On Jan. 9 the New York Islanders, who play in the Metropolitan division, took on the Vancouver Canucks in the Pacific division. With the Canucks on a back-to-back, the Islanders were favored to win the game, but that changed rather quickly.

The Islanders needed to win this game, considering how tight the Metro division is right now, and that they haven’t been playing the best hockey so far. Many people, more specifically the fans, haven’t been pleased with the way they are performing. Prior to the game they had a record of 18-11-10. On the other hand, the Canucks are in one of the best positions within the whole league right now. They sit in first place within their division as they entered the game with a record of 26-11-3.

The majority of the opening period was mostly back and forth, and it wasn’t until late in the period that the Canucks would strike first. Filip Hronek scored the first goal about 16 minutes into the game allowing the Canucks to take a 1-0 lead. Moments later Quinn Hughes would score his 11th goal on the season, which added to their lead.

Moving on to the second period, Elias Pettersson would make the game 3-0 leaving the Islanders scoreless, until Brock Nelson scored on the powerplay making the score 3-1. With three minutes remaining, Tyler Myers scored, which allowed the Canucks to end the period with a three-goal lead.

The third period almost went scoreless until Brock Nelson scored his second goal of the night with 5 minutes left to play. This made the score 4-2. Dakota Joshua capped off the night by scoring with 2 minutes left in the game making the final score 5-2.

The game resulted in the Canucks taking the win and ending the night with a 27-11-3 record plus 57 points. This puts them ahead of the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Vegas Golden Knights, by 6 points. The Islanders ended the night with an 18-12-10 record and are now 4th place in their division.