Tavares had a goal and two assists as the Isles pulled out to a three-goal lead in the second period, wobbled a bit and held on for a 4-2 win, their first victory at Barclays Center and of the 2015-16 season.
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New York Islanders celebrate on the ice after defeating the…
John Tavares had a power-play goal and added two assists, Thomas Greiss made 22 saves and the Islanders beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 for their first win of the season and the first in their new Brooklyn home.
By the end of the second period, the Isles were up 3-1 and had outshot the previously undefeated Jets (2-1-0) by a wide margin of 36-15.
Fans don’t always agree with Jack Capuano’s assessment of games, but he does tend to call out poor efforts even after wins.
Nevertheless, I wanted to share some extra insight from Saturday’s game, some Ranger quotes from Saturday night’s post-game and Monday afternoon’s practice in Greenburgh, and some preview information for Tuesday night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets at the Garden.
Tavares had a chance to regain the two-goal advantage but missed on a late third period penalty shot.
“I just try to not overthink it and play my game”, Lindberg said of employing his skill in a flash.
ABOUT THE JETS (2-0-0): The goaltending tandem of Ondrej Pavelec (two goals allowed) and Michael Hutchinson (one) has played well in splitting the opening two games, but Winnipeg’s offense has been particularly impressive in the final 40 minutes of each contest.
Brock Nelson made it 2-0 at 6:46 of the second period.
“When the opposition started to push like they did, we’re not sitting back”.
Tavares said of the win compared to the games against Chicago, “We seemed to be more in sync and we were hungry on the puck”.
“That’s a really tough team to play against, much less open the season with them twice”, Strome said. “Obviously a different atmosphere than the [Nassau Veterans Memorial] Coliseum, but I think the guys were looking forward to this game and dropping the puck [Friday night]”.
“It might make us feel more comfortable and want to be at the rink a little more”, Okposo said. “Overall they played well, along with our whole team”.
Tavares was clearly the best player on the ice Monday as his power play goal gave the Isles their dredded three-goal lead. “You just go out and you play”, Capuano told Newsday regarding his words of advice to Berube, who made his National Hockey League debut against the reigning champs after being claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings less than a week before the season started. Neither player has appeared in a game this season. “We haven’t had a lot of power plays so far, so I’m thinking that’s gonna take a little while to sort out”.
Here is what alternate captain Marc Staal said of the Rangers’ opening-week schedule going at Chicago, at Columbus and vs. Columbus on a stretch of three games in four nights: “When I first looked at the schedule, they didn’t throw us any bones to start the season”.
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“He was great, no matter who’s in the net we’re going to be confident, that’s for sure”.
