Islanders snap two-game losing streak with win over Sharks

The Sisyphean Islanders again began pushing their proverbial puck up their proverbial mountain.

They were good in a last-place matchup against the Sharks, playing connected, fast hockey that resulted in a 4-1 win on Saturday night in front of many of their luminaries as Brent Sutter was inducted into the Islanders’ Hall of Fame in a pre-game ceremony.

It was their first win on a seven-game homestand that began with desultory losses to the Senators and Flyers, both ahead of the Islanders (18-20-7) in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. But that losing streak followed a three-game sweep of a road trip that marked their longest winning streak of the season.

So, yeah, Sisyphus. The puck goes up the mountain, the puck rolls down the mountain.

The Islanders are still seven points out of a wild-card spot with six teams in front of them in what is starting to seem a near-impossible task of mounting a playoff push.

Marcus Hogberg, making his third start in four games, but with Ilya Sorokin healthy this time, stopped 18 shots. The Sharks (14-28-6) lost for the 16th time in 20 games.

The teams opened the scoring with a combined three goals in one minute, 53 seconds in the second period. Mathew Barzal sprinted up ice and fended off defenseman Cody Ceci to beat Alexandar Georgiev (27 saves) on the backhand at 8:47. Hogberg allowed Barclay Goodrow’s unscreened shot from the right wall to beat him over his blocker at 10:02 but Brock Nelson cut to the net for Kyle Palmieri’s feed to make it 2-1 at 10:40.

Defenseman Noah Dobson, who had an apparent goal waved off at 9:05 of the first period because Kyle MacLean bumped Georgiev, connected from the right point with 26.2 seconds left in the second period to give the Islanders a two-goal edge. Defenseman Ryan Pulock promptly made it 4-1 at 1:03 of the third period, also from the right point.

Notes & quotes: Nelson’s second-period goal moved him into fifth place on the Islanders’ all-time list with 288, breaking a tie with Sutter and Pat LaFontaine…Simon Holmstrom was activated off injured reserve after missing seven games with an upper-body issue. Hudson Fasching was moved to IR as he missed his fifth game with an upper-body injury…Defenseman Alexander Romanov was back in the lineup after an upper-body issue sidelined him for three games.