Islanders’ Bo Horvat scores twice in three-goal second period in win over Blue Jackets

Happy anniversary.

The Islanders, still in last place in the Metropolitan Division and with their playoff hopes flickering, celebrated Patrick Roy’s 365th day on the job by playing exactly how the coach has preached they should. They played most of the game in the offensive zone, beat the speedy Blue Jackets to most pucks while winning one-on-one physical battles and had their special teams make a positive difference in a 3-1 victory on Monday night at UBS Arena.

Bo Horvat scored two goals in the Islanders’ three-goal second period — which included scores both on the man advantage and shorthanded — and Ilya Sorokin stopped 25 shots.

The Islanders (19-20-7), who moved within six points of the surging Blue Jackets with their second straight win, improved to 2-2-0 on their seven-game homestand, which continues Friday night against the Flyers. The downer was top-pair defenseman Noah Dobson exiting at 1:16 of the third period with what appeared to be a leg injury.

Roy replaced the fired Lane Lambert on Jan. 20, 2024 and now has a less-than-satisfactory 38-35-18 mark behind the Islanders’ bench. But the Islanders have won five of seven while playing some of their most consistent hockey of the rocky season.

The Blue Jackets (22-18-7) had a seven-game point streak snapped after entering the match on a 10-2-2 run and holding the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.

The Islanders checked all the right boxes in the second period. They killed three penalties, including two taken by Casey Cizikas in the offensive zone, while continuing to dominate puck possession, wall play and setting up cycles with their forecheck.

Brock Nelson nearly scored on a wraparound 32 seconds in — a quick video review confirmed the no-goal call — but Mathew Barzal found Horvat cutting to the crease to tie the game at 1-1 just 11 seconds later.

Simon Holmstrom converted a two-on-one shorthanded rush off Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s feed after Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werewnski fell and lost the puck in the neutral zone to make it 2-1 at 2:57. And Barzal again fed Horvat for a power-play goal to increase the lead to 3-1 at 5:47. Somehow, Elvis Merzlikins (22 saves) kept the Blue Jackets’ deficit at two with a blocker save on Nelson from the slot at 16:48 despite being pinned to the ice as he was tangled with Werenski.

The Islanders had dominated five-on-five play in the first period but could not get many pucks to the net despite their puck possession advantage. They trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes on Kent Johnson’s power-play wrist shot from the left circle at 4:52 and while the Islanders are still last in the NHL on the penalty kill, they had been 10-for-10 over their previous six games.

Notes & quotes: The Islanders scored a power-play goal and a shorthanded goal in the same period for the first time since a 3-1 win over the visiting Oilers on Dec. 19, 2023. That game also marked Holmstrom’s last shorthanded tally…Hudson Fasching (upper body/injured reserve) missed his sixth game but participated in the Islanders’ optional morning skate wearing an orange, noncontact jersey…Matt Martin and defenseman Dennis Cholowski remained healthy scratches while Maxim Tsyplakov served the second of a three-game suspension for his high hit on the Flyers’ Ryan Poehling…Roy was named the first-team goalie on the Avalanche’s quarter-century team and Semyon Varlamov (lower body/long-term injured reserve) was named to the second team as announced by the NHL on Monday.