Dec 31, 2016
Tavares, Strome help Islanders beat Jets
John Tavares and Ryan Strome each had a goal and an assist on Saturday as the New York Islanders downed the Winnipeg Jets 6-2. Nikolay Kulemin, Shane Prince, Anders Lee and Andrew Ladd also scored for the Islanders (15-15-6), who've won four of their last five games. Josh Bailey and Brock Nelson both added a pair of assists.
The Canadian Press
WINNIPEG — Goaltender Thomas Greiss was impressed with his team's offensive output on Saturday night.
Greiss made 32 saves and six different New York Islanders scored in a 6-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
"You can't always rely on one or two guys. Everybody's got to chip in," Greiss said. "It was a great example today and made the game easy for us."
John Tavares and Ryan Strome each had a goal and an assist for the Islanders (15-15-6), who've won four of their last five games. Nikolay Kulemin, Shane Prince, Anders Lee and Andrew Ladd rounded out the attack while Josh Bailey and Brock Nelson both added a pair of assists.
Shawn Matthias scored shorthanded, while Nikolaj Ehlers had a power-play goal for Winnipeg (17-19-3), which has only won two of its last five games.
"It's pretty self-explanatory," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said in a 32-second scrum with reporters. "It wasn't good enough and the score was indicative of that."
Teammate Mark Scheifele pinpointed one area of concern.
"That effort level tonight out there wasn't acceptable and definitely (is) something that needs to be addressed," he said.
"At the end of the day, that's what it is, it's hard work. Battling through adversity. Battling through all the stuff that goes on in a game.
"Not every shift is going to go as planned, but for us, we need to battle through it, every bump and bruise, every miscue during the game and support each other that way."
The Islanders had a 2-0 lead after the first period and were ahead 4-0 late in the second.
It was enough to switch Jets goalies.
Connor Hellebuyck had allowed four goals on 15 shots and was replaced by Michael Hutchinson with 5:47 left in the second period. Hutchinson made seven stops in relief.
"We've been slowly chipping away and doing some better things," said Tavares, whose team was coming off a 6-4 loss to Minnesota on Thursday.
"We've still kind of let some things get away from us . . . We've got to, obviously, really make up some ground. Obviously, you can't do it in one day or one week, so one game at a time."
The home crowd started showing its frustration in the second period.
The Islanders went up 3-0 at 2:26 after Strome skated behind Winnipeg's net with the puck and sent it out to Prince for his fifth of the season.
Fans weren't happy with Hellebuyck and jeered him the next time he made a save.
The Jets had the game's first power play a few minutes later with Tavares in the penalty box for holding, but they couldn't get a shot on goal.
Ten seconds after another Winnipeg power play expired — with one shot on goal — Strome fired the puck through Hellebuyck's pads to make it 4-0 at 14:13.
Hellebuyck's exit drew cheers from the crowd, who had booed the players during their power play.
"Two of (Hellebuyck's) last three games have been pretty darn good, one very good," Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. "But tonight he really struggled in that net, as did the rest of the hockey team. So he has to find a way to get better and we all have to do better in front of him to give him a chance."
Winnipeg begins a three-game road trip Tuesday in Tampa Bay, while the Islanders are heading into their five-day bye break and don't play again until Jan. 6 in Colorado.
After just finishing some Christmas holidays, Tavares said the time off is a bit odd.
"I don't think it really makes sense with the timing, at least for us at this time of year," Tavares said. "You'd like to see maybe half the league getting that time off going into the all-star break, and the other half coming out of that and trying to make it as even as possible. That makes a little more sense."