Islanders pull away in 3rd period, defeat Coyotes

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Bo Horvat had two goals and an assist for the New York Islanders in a 5-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena on Thursday.

Anders Lee and Julien Gauthier scored 53 seconds apart in a three-goal third period for the Islanders (18-10-10), who had lost two straight and three of four (1-2-1).

Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves, and Mathew Barzal and Noah Dobson each had two assists.

“I thought that both Bo and `Barzy’ were skating determined, just very, very solid, steady play away from the puck both of them,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “As a result, they had some opportunities and created some chances and got some numbers.”

Nick Schmaltz scored, and Connor Ingram made 26 saves for the Coyotes (19-16-2), who lost their second straight after winning six of seven.

“Our puck play was difficult, even the simple play was difficult. Our execution hurt us a lot,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “They (the Islanders) played well, but a lot of it was self-inflicted.”

New York was able to build on their lead in the third, something it couldn’t do while twice surrendering leads in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

“I think we kind of learned from our mistakes and played really well in the third period, something that we've haven't done in the past,” Horvat said. “Tonight, I thought we did a great job with that.”

Lee scored from the slot to make 3-1 at 4:29 of the third after Arizona defenseman Juuso Valimaki’s up-ice pass was deflected by Barzal.

Gauthier’s end-to-end rush pushed it to 4-1 at 5:22. Horvat scored unassisted for his second of the game at 13:05 for the 5-1 final.

“We didn’t have a good second period, they were buzzing in our own zone and getting a lot of opportunities,” Gauthier said. “So, we were talking after that period, ‘We need to come out strong and if we play if we play good in our own zone, we'll get opportunities offensively.’ That's what we had tonight, and the third period was great for us.”

The Islanders outshot the Coyotes 14-4 in the third.

Sorokin, who shut out Arizona 1-0 on Oct. 17, has allowed one goal in his four career wins against the Coyotes.

“He really made some key saves tonight at the right times,” Lambert said. “That was it nice to see, and he certainly helped us in terms of not giving them any momentum.”

Horvat scored 11 seconds into a power play at 7:56 of the first period to give New York a 1-0 lead. Dobson’s shot from along the boards deflected off Arizona forward Jack McBain to Horvat in the high slot for a wrist shot.

Mike Reilly scored at 12:02 to make it 2-0. Barzal made a cross-ice pass to Reilly for a wrist shot from the left circle after Coyotes defenseman Matt Dumba turned the puck over along the wall.

“There were a lot of [bad] plays with the puck, passes, interceptions. There’s nothing you can do if you can’t execute,” Tourigny said. “Part of it is concentration. You can’t win in this league if you can’t make plays with the puck.”

Schmaltz’s power-play goal cut it to 2-1 at 3:29 of the second period, four seconds after a brief Coyotes two-man advantage ended. Schmaltz scored on a wrist shot from the lower left circle off Sean Durzi’s pass.

NOTES: Barzal and Coyotes forward Clayton Keller were named to the 2024 NHL All-Star Game prior to puck drop. … Barzal became the 17th player in Islanders history with at least 400 points. … New York is 12-2-8 when scoring first. … Lee has scored 10 of his 11 goals in the past 23 games. … Dobson was plus-3 in 25:09 of ice time. … Arizona forward Jason Zucker sat out the first of a three-game suspension for boarding Florida Panthers forward Nick Cousins on Tuesday. The Coyotes played 11 forwards and seven defensemen. … Schmaltz’s goal was his second in 13 games.