Islanders score five in first, defeat Canucks

VANCOUVER -- The New York Islanders scored five goals in the first period, including three in 31 seconds, in a 6-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Wednesday.

Anders Lee and Casey Cizikas each had a goal and an assist, Cal Clutterbuck had two assists, and Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves for the Islanders (17-17-6), who had lost three of four.
"When you get that early three goals in the first four or five minutes and then it just keeps coming, I thought that was as well as we played all year in that first period," said Zach Parise, who had a goal playing in his 1,100th game.
The Canucks (21-21-6) were coming off a 5-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday. Jaroslav Halak allowed five goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Thatcher Demko, who made 14 saves after making 35 the night before.
"We didn't give 'Jaro' any chance," Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They're just not ready to play, to start."
Parise got things started at 3:25 of the first period, redirecting a pass by Noah Dobson from below the goal line five-hole on Halak to put New York ahead 1-0.
Brock Nelson then redirected Adam Pelech's point shot to make it 2-0 at 3:43, and Anders Lee scored 13 seconds later to make it 3-0 when Ryan Pulock's shot deflected in off his right skate.

The three goals in 31 seconds was the second-fastest in Islanders history. They did it in 27 seconds against the New York Rangers on Oct. 23, 1983.
"They came out hard, they were flying, they were at another gear," Canucks defenseman Luke Schenn said. "We were on our heels, they were on their toes and all over us, and obviously they capitalized on their opportunities. Before you know it, it was bang-bang-bang and in the net and we're chasing the game from there."
The offensive outburst came after Islanders coach Barry Trotz mixed up his forward lines, including inserting Ross Johnston back into the lineup and playing Clutterbuck on a line with Lee and Mathew Barzal.
"It hasn't been working for us," Trotz said. "We haven't had consistent production through our lineup, so it was to put some people in a position where they can add a little more, I'll say weight, on all the lines, especially what we call our top-two lines and just balance them out with a little more four-line mentality."
Cizikas extended the lead to 4-0 at 13:11 when he converted a cross-crease pass from Anthony Beauvillier, and Barzal got behind the defense before roofing a shot over Halak's glove at 16:19 to make it 5-0.
"Anytime you go into a night with new linemates, a new setup, you want to have communication and try to build that chemistry from the get-go," Lee said. "If there was a lack of chemistry, it got fixed by us playing the right way, moving our legs, and then things start to come pretty easy, and that's what happened."

Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored on a rebound through traffic at 18:56 of the first to make it 5-1.
Elias Pettersson cut across the crease and made it 5-2 at 13:04 of the second period before Schenn cut it to 5-3 at 14:35 when his point shot deflected in off Cizikas.
"There's no moral victory tonight," Canucks captain Bo Horvat said. "We have to win hockey games, and obviously we dug ourselves way too deep of a hole."
Matt Martin scored on a one-timer from the low slot after Cizikas stole the puck from Tyler Myers at 14:19 of the third period for the 6-3 final.
"They had a good second period and we got a hemmed in our zone a little bit, but we were able to lock it down when we needed to, and then we got a huge goal at the end to make it 6-3 and let everyone take a deep breath," Parise said. "But I thought just top to bottom it was a really good effort by us."
NOTES:Parise is one of five active U.S.-born players to skate in 1,100 games, joining Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings (1,276), Phil Kessel of the Arizona Coyotes (1,169), and Joe Pavelski (1,130) and Ryan Suter (1,242) of the Dallas Stars. … Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri missed the game after being placed on a non-roster paternity leave but is scheduled to rejoin the team on the road for their game at the Edmonton Oilers on Friday. … Canucks forward Jason Dickinson was a late scratch with an undisclosed injury.