RALEIGH, N.C. — When he was despatched to the AHL after coaching camp, Pierre Engvall wasn’t on anybody’s bingo card to be keying the Islanders offense down the stretch of the season.
However there Engvall was on Sunday, scoring a pair of objectives off the push within the 6-4 defeat to Carolina.
There Engvall has been for the previous two weeks, one of many few gamers to indicate up evening in and evening out because the Islanders’ playoff odds have ebbed and flowed with the membership’s normal lack of consistency.
“I don’t know how many games, but it’s been feeling good for some games here,” Engvall stated. “I really enjoy playing with [Hudson] Fasching and [Casey] Cizikas. Working really hard and making plays for everyone out there. Really easy to read where the puck is going and so on.”
Sunday marked the primary profession multi-goal sport for Engvall, whose 63 objectives with out one had been the third-most all time and not using a multi-goal sport in league historical past.
“Obviously it felt good to score. Did it twice,” Engvall stated. “I think our line was working really hard, down there in the offensive zone a lot. That’s good, but we lost the game and we need to get points.”
It’s unlikely to vary the big-picture calculus on Engvall, whose contract and play alike have been lightning rods for criticism this season.
Nonetheless, the Islanders will probably be blissful to see him lastly displaying some much-needed consistency.
“Been pushing on him and he’s responding really well,” coach Patrick Roy stated. “That line’s been playing really well.”
Marcus Hogberg allowed 4 or extra objectives for a second straight begin, making simply 24 saves and letting in six objectives.
Roy made no secret of his unhappiness with the goalie’s play afterward.
“A couple saves he could have made, would have been the difference in that game,” Roy stated.
The Islanders made a few lineup tweaks on Sunday, shifting Anders Lee to what had beforehand been Simon Holmstrom’s spot on the primary line, with Holmstrom going to Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s left on the second line.
The transfer paid off when Lee tapped in Bo Horvat’s feed to the crease early within the third interval.
The protection pairs saved intact the modifications made by Roy on Saturday, with Adam Boqvist partnering Alexander Romanov and Noah Dobson taking part in on Ryan Pulock’s left.
Carolina’s Jordan Staal missed Sunday’s sport with a lower-body harm.
