COLUMBUS, Ohio — Brock Nelson scored his career-high 32nd goal, Semyon Varlamov made 42 saves and the New York Islanders held off the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier and Zach Parise also scored as the Islanders snapped a two-game skid. New York moved within two points of Columbus in the standings, but both teams are well behind Washington for the last Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Vladimir Gavrikov scored twice for Columbus, which lost its fourth straight. Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 25 shots. The Blue Jackets played without coach Brad Larsen, who went into COVID-19 protocol earlier Tuesday, along with assistant Steve McCarthy.
Gavrikov put back a rebounded puck after Patrik Laine's rifle shot from the blue line at 7:20 of the opening period.
Sixteen seconds into a power play, Nelson beat Merzlikins from the far edge of the left circle to even the game. Bailey scored from the low slot off a feed from Jean-Gabriel Pageau to put the Islanders up 2-1 late in the first.
Anthony Beauvillier bounced one in the net off Merzlikins early in the second period, and Parise tapped in a pass from Noah Dobson to push New York's lead to 4-1.
Gavrikov got his second of the game with a backhand shot late in the second period, and Bjorkstrand got his career-high 24th goal 4 1/2 minutes into the third to make it 4-3. But the comeback fell short as Varlamov held off a 6-on-4 attack late.
“Any time you're up 4-1 halfway through the game, you know they’re going to be pressing,” said center Mathew Barzal, who had two assists. “(Varlamov) made some great saves that probably helped us keep the lead.”
Islanders coach Barry Trotz was concerned, too.
“The first two periods we were fine,” Trotz said. “We played well. I thought in the third period, we just sat back, we just didn’t play.”
The Blue Jackets outshot New York 16-3 in the final period.
“I thought we were coming back in the third period,” said associate coach Pascal Vincent, standing in for the sidelined Larsen. “Seventy shot attempts, 45 shots on the net — usually you win those games.”
UP NEXT
The teams move to UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, to complete the home-and-home series on Thursday night.
