Kyle Palmieri scored two goals on Saturday night as the New York Islanders held onto a third-period lead to beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 in Elmont, N.Y.
Palmieri’s first goal came late in the first period, and he added an empty-net goal in the third to seal the win. The victory ended a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) for the Islanders, where they had lost each time after giving up a third-period lead.
Brock Nelson also had a strong game, scoring a power-play goal in the second period and adding two assists. Goalie Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves, earning his 100th career win. Sorokin had lost his last four starts (0-2-2).
Jake Neighbours scored for the Blues early in the third period. The Blues have now lost seven of their last nine games (2-6-1). Goalie Jordan Binnington made 28 saves in the loss.
Palmieri opened the scoring with 1:09 left in the first period. Ryan Suter’s pass deflected off the stick of Neighbours, who was closely guarded by Palmieri. Neighbours couldn’t control the puck, which slid back to Suter near the St. Louis blue line. Suter passed to Pierre-Olivier Joseph, but Brock Nelson intercepted his attempt to send the puck up the boards. Nelson then passed to Palmieri, who fired a shot from the top of the slot that went under Binnington’s stick.
In the second period, a tripping penalty on Suter led to Nelson’s power-play goal with 4:05 left. Maxim Tsyplakov passed the puck behind the Blues’ net to Nelson, who was falling in the slot. From his knees, Nelson shot the puck over Binnington’s glove.
A cross-checking penalty on Islanders defenseman Isaiah George 35 seconds into the third set up Neighbours’ goal 10 seconds later. Robert Thomas won a faceoff against Nelson, and Neighbours, positioned next to Sorokin, received a pass from Pavel Buchnevich and scored by tucking the puck over Sorokin’s stick.
A goal by Noah Dobson at 8:27 of the third was called back due to goalie interference. Palmieri had fallen into Binnington just before Dobson’s shot went in. Binnington then made two big saves to deny Anders Lee with 3:01 left. Palmieri sealed the win by scoring an empty-net goal just over a minute after Binnington was pulled for an extra attacker.
