Islanders hang on for win against Blues

ELMONT, N.Y. --Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves for the New York Islanders in a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at UBS Arena on Saturday.

Brock Nelson scored his 20th goal of the season for the Islanders (21-23-8), who had lost four of their previous five games. They have split the first two of a six-game homestand.
"I think tonight felt right, just our game top to bottom," New York defenseman Ryan Pulock said. "Guys were doing the right things, playing hard, being physical and engaged, blocking shots, all those little things.
"I think we're a better team than the standings, and that's on us. We haven't been good enough, consistent enough. We've shown flashes here and there, but we've got to stick with that and every night bring that game. You never know, there's still a lot of hockey to be played, so we've just got to stick with it."

Robert Thomas scored, and Jordan Binnington made 18 saves for the Blues (32-16-6), who have lost their past two games and complete a four-game road trip at the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
"[We were] flat for a couple of periods," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "Third period we woke up and started doing things right, pressuring them. We had some opportunities and made it a one-goal game."
Oliver Wahlstrom gave New York a 1-0 lead at 6:36 of the first period with a shot from along the goal line that got past Binnington short side. It was his first goal in 12 games.
Nelson made it 2-0 at 1:04 of the second period with a one-timer from the right face-off circle on a power play. It's the sixth time Nelson has scored 20 goals in his NHL career.
"You set benchmarks and goals along the way, and I think that's been one throughout my career that you try to achieve," Nelson said. "I've been able this year to get some pucks and I've played with some good players the last couple of years and had some success. It feels good."

Thomas ended Sorokin's shutout with 2:52 remaining in the third period when he jammed a loose puck at the left post to make it 2-1.
Sorokin kept the Islanders in front with 1:01 left with a blocker save against Brayden Schenn from the slot.
"Ilya a had a great game, you think he might have a shutout or whatever," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "He doesn't really care if he has a shutout. He cares if we win, and we won. That's sort of the mentality both of our goalies (Sorokin, Semyon Varlamov) have."
The Blues outshot the Islanders 15-8 in the third.
"Tough start to the game for us, and we finally got going in the third and really brought it to them," Thomas said. "We just needed to do that for the first and second period."
NOTES:It was the first time the Islanders won without scoring at least three goals since Nov. 6 (2-0 at the Winnipeg Jets). … New York forward Kyle Palmieri had two goals disallowed; St. Louis successfully won a coach's challenge at 16:43 of the first when Kieffer Bellows interfered with Binnington, and at 11:34 of the third for having his stick above the crossbar when he redirected a shot by Pulock during a power play. … Blues forward Jordan Kyrou had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (eight points; three goals, five assists). … St. Louis forward David Perron did not play because of an illness. He was replaced by forward Klim Kostin, who had one shot on goal in 6:59 of ice time. … Islanders forward
Anders Lee
did not play because of personal reasons. Forward Otto Koivula was plus-1 in 7:29 after being recalled, along with defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League. … New York center Mathew Barzal (lower body) and defenseman Zdeno Chara (upper body) each missed his fourth straight game, and Chara was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 26. Barzal is day to day. … Chara was honored in a pregame ceremony for setting the NHL games played record by a defenseman (1,652) on Feb. 24.