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By Scott Charles
Bo Horvat scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the New York Islanders won their fourth straight game, 4-2 over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
Kyle Palmieri, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mathew Barzal also scored for the Islanders who moved within four points of the Philadelphia Flyers for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division, which would guarantee them a spot in the playoffs.
Ilya Sorokin finished with 19 saves and improved to 5-1 since the 6-5 overtime loss to the Rangers in the Stadium Series game at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 18.
Horvat broke a 2-2 tie with an incredible individual effort as he moved around Blues defenseman Nick Leddy, corralled his own rebound and buried a wraparound to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead 55 seconds into the third period.
“I knew I could trust him, I knew he was playing heavy in that third period,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said of Horvat. “He was on a mission, he wanted to give it back to his teammates, win the game and be a difference maker and that’s exactly what he did in that third period.”
Barzal added an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Alexey Toropchenko and Jordan Kyrou scored for the Blues, who had won their last two games. Rookie goaltender Joel Hofer made 29 saves.
“Tough game for us today,” Kyrou said. “We need to be better next game.”
Prior to Horvat’s tally, the Islanders scored twice within 5:15 in the second period to erase a two-goal deficit.
Palmieri converted a skillful forehand-backhand maneuver to get the Islanders on the board at 12:32. The forward had a natural hat trick in the first period of the Islanders 5-1 win against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
“We have really good communication on and off the ice,” Pageau said of the chemistry on the newly formed line consisting of Palmieri and Anders Lee. “When three guys are on the same page, play the same way, have the same mindset and the same ideas I feel like things could work really well and it’s been clicking.”
The Islanders knotted the game at 2-all when Pageau pounced on a loose puck in the slot area at 17:47.
“I thought we were doing a lot of good things out there but those first two goals were definitely my fault,” Horvat said. “My teammates stepped up big there. Pageau, Palmieri and that line were unbelievable tonight against that top line. They had our backs, definitely had mine and I’m thankful for that.”
Toropchenko fired a wrist shot past Sorokin for his 11th goal of the season at 1:21 of the second period to open the scoring.
St. Louis doubled its advantage when Brandon Saad stole a puck from Horvat and slid it over to Kyrou for an easy tap-in.
“Obviously not the result we wanted but just try to regroup,” Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. “Points for us are super important, we just have to look forward now. Obviously, take the things that we can from this game and look forward to Jersey.”
UP NEXT
Blues: Visit New Jersey Devils Thursday night.
Islanders: Visit San Jose Sharks Thursday night.
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