Maybe the Islanders should consider more day games.
In the only afternoon start on home ice all year on Saturday, they were shot out of a cannon, beating the Predators, 7-4, for a second straight victory with an Ilya Sorokin empty-net goal to boot as the trade deadline ticked closer.
With the NHL waiting to see whether Lou Lamoriello, who has held his cards close to the chest, will finally fold and become a seller, his potential trade chips all offered a reminder of their values, with Brock Nelson scoring two goals while Kyle Palmieri and Jean-Gabriel Pageau put in one apiece.
Of course, it might have helped the Islanders somewhat that the Predators — in the middle of a disastrous season of their own — held Gustav Nyquist out of the match for trade-related reasons (he was officially dealt to the Wild during the third period) while star defenseman Roman Josi hit injured reserve.
Those inconvenient caveats aside, this was as good a start as the Islanders have put together all year. All four lines played north, attacked the crease and forechecked.
Hudson Fasching, who rejoined the lineup two nights prior in Boston and played Saturday on the third line while Max Tsyplakov sat as a healthy scratch, proved just what Casey Cizikas and Pageau needed to come alive as the trio put together shift after shift in the offensive zone, scoring twice.
It took just 2:37 of play for Cizikas to feed Pageau from behind the net for a 1-0 lead, kick-starting a dominant first in which the Isles outshot their opposition 19-3.
Fasching later picked up an assist to Cizikas on a goal early in the third.
The Isles put up a rare three-spot in the first 20 minutes, including a power-play goal from Palmieri that snapped a six-game scoreless streak on the man advantage dating back to the start of February. Bo Horvat netted the third goal with just under 30 seconds left in the period, cleaning up the garbage on Anders Lee’s rebound.
Nelson came alive in the second, scoring a pair of goals — one of them coming shorthanded — to keep Nashville at arm’s length as Colton Sissons scored and picked up an assist.
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It was career game No. 899 for Nelson, all of which have come in an Islander uniform, and if the team chooses to trade him, it will be one of his last at home.
Should that be the case, this was a good reminder of what he’s given the Islanders since debuting in 2013, as Nelson finished off Simon Holmström’s shorthanded feed before scoring his second after corralling Alexander Romanov’s diagonal pass to the lower right circle.
The Predators got within one in the game’s final minute on Cole Smith’s power play goal, but never looked like a threat to win before Sorokin’s empty-netter.
On the ice from Long Island
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While the club’s assets getting a boost is one way to view this, another is that the Islanders, by winning, are giving Lamoriello a reason to think about holding on for a playoff push.
The Rangers, who are ahead of the Isles in the standings, dealt Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey on Saturday to signal they will prioritize the future instead of going all-out for a wild-card spot, but that is not how Lamoriello has viewed things in the past.
If he still thinks the Islanders have a shot on March 7, the Islanders could be in for another trade deadline of standing by the group they have.
Saturday may have inched them a little closer to that outcome.
