In Vancouver, the New York Islanders scored five times in the first period on Wednesday night, and defeated the Canucks, 6-3.
Zach Parise and Brock Nelson scored early for a 2-0 lead to New York.
“When you get that early three goals in the first four or five minutes and then it just keeps coming, I thought that was as well as we played all year in that first period,” Parise, said.
Anders Lee scored to make it 3-0, all three goals came within a 31 second span.
“They came out hard, they were flying, they were at another gear,” the Canucks’ Luke Schenn (goal) said. “We were on our heels, they were on their toes and all over us, and obviously they capitalized on their opportunities. Before you know it, it was bang-bang-bang and in the net and we’re chasing the game from there.”
Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves in the New York win.
Mixed and matched lines played a big role in the Isles fast start.
“It hasn’t been working for us,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said. “We haven’t had consistent production through our lineup, so it was to put some people in a position where they can add a little more, I’ll say weight, on all the lines, especially what we call our top-two lines and just balance them out with a little more four-line mentality.”
Casey Cizikas pushed the lead to 4-0.
The Islanders moved to 17-17-6.
“Anytime you go into a night with new linemates, a new setup, you want to have communication and try to build that chemistry from the get-go,” Lee said. “If there was a lack of chemistry, it got fixed by us playing the right way, moving our legs, and then things start to come pretty easy, and that’s what happened.”
Mathew Barzal made it 5-0 for the Islanders.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for the Canucks to stop the barrage in the first.
“There’s no moral victory tonight,” the Canucks’ Bo Horvat said. “We have to win hockey games, and obviously we dug ourselves way too deep of a hole.”
Elias Pettersson scored in the second period for the Canucks.
“They had a good second period and we got a hemmed in our zone a little bit, but we were able to lock it down when we needed to, and then we got a huge goal at the end to make it 6-3 and let everyone take a deep breath,” Parise said. “But I thought just top to bottom it was a really good effort by us.”
The Canucks dropped back to .500 at 21-216.
New York’s Matt Martin scored in the third period for the 5-2 final.
Jaroslav Halak got the start for Vancouver and yielded all five first period goals from the Isles.
“We didn’t give ‘Jaro’ any chance,” Vancouver head coach Bruce Boudreau said. “They’re just not ready to play, to start.”
He made seven saves before getting the hook.
Thatcher Demko made 14 saves in relief.
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