Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak makes season debut

On the go-ahead goal, Okposo got the rebound of his own shot behind the net, skated around Sharks defender Brenden Dillon and beat Stalock to put the Islanders up for good with his second of the season at 4:18 of the third.

But after a week of three home games against previously unbeaten teams resulted in 14 goals and three wins, capped by Saturday night’s 6-3 win over the Sharks, it is clear that no matter where the Isles call home, they’re hard to play against and keep in check.

The teams entered the third period 3-3. “We kept our foot on the gas and kept pressing”.

The Islanders challenged the play for goalie interference, as Pavelski made incidental contact with Halak, but the goal stood after a video review.

In the early going, it was the Sharks (4-1-0) taking the game to the Islanders. San Jose was 6-3-1 in the second contest of back-to-back games last season.

After a short delay, the officials upheld the ruling on the ice of a goal.

The Sharks (4-1-0, eight points) opened the scoring at 13:04 of the first when Joe Pavelski deflected Justin Braun’s shot in. The refs conferred afterwards, but it was allowed to stand. Stalock said the shot caused the buckles to come undone on his helmet, and took his mask off so he could see. “It ended up going off me and in”.

Then San Jose right winger Joel Ward and Islanders left winger Josh Bailey exchanged goals to send the teams into the locker room tied 3-3 after two.

Okposo had a breakaway shot kick-saved by Alex Stalock.

After an opening night overtime loss to the defending champion Blackhawks and a loss in Chicago the following night, the Isles won their third straight game at home. “He deserves to play, and I think everyone’s comfortable with him in there”. “It was a good win and good way to finish off this week”.

Jaroslav Halak made his season debut after missing the first four games due to an undisclosed upper body injury and finished with 22 saves.

“He played really well”, Lee said.

NOTES: Halak became the third Islanders goalie to start a game this season.

“It’s good to be back”.

“It’s a big win”, Halak said. “I’ll take the win, even if it wasn’t pretty at times”.

This will be the first game of the season where the Islanders dress their intended starting lineup.

“We sagged after that, which was a little disappointing”, DeBoer said. “There’s no doubt in this locker room. Every game doesn’t always go the way you script it. You don’t always get the lead and we found a way”. In more good news, Thomas Hickey is also healthy and will play in place of Brian Strait.

Nelson snapped in an insurance goal with 8:50 left and Nielsen added an empty-netter – his 100th goal and 300th point of his career – with just under 3 minutes to go. The Sharks will be without star forward Logan Couture who broke his leg in practice earlier in the week. Paul Martin was held out with a lower body injury, forcing the Sharks to mix up their defensive pairs for the first time this season.