TORONTO (AP) — The New York Islanders like to rely on defenseman Ryan Pulock’s blistering point shot to help generate offense.
On Friday, they advanced to the first round of the NHL playoffs courtesy of Pulock using his stick to make a clutch defensive play and secure a preliminary round series-clinching 5-1 win over Florida in Game 4 of their best-of-five series.
Some 25 seconds after Brock Nelson scored to put the Islanders up 3-1 at the 12:01 mark of the second period, Pulock dived across the crease to prevent Panthers leading scorer Aleksander Barkov from scoring into an open net.