Tavares' hat trick leads Isles past winless Coyotes
NEW YORK -- John Tavares collected his seventh career hat trick Tuesday night, capping it with the game-winner with 7:19 left in a 5-3 New York Islanders' victory over the winless Arizona Coyotes at Barclays Center.
Tavares extended his stick to receive a pass from Adam Pelech and poked the puck through the legs of Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers and past goalie Louis Domingue to complete his first hat trick since Jan. 13.
Tavares also scored twice in the second for the Islanders (5-3-1), who have won three straight. Brock Nelson scored in the third period and Scott Mayfield added an insurance goal with 2:57 remaining. Goalie Jaroslav Halak recorded 32 saves.
Anthony Duclair, Mario Kempe and Nick Cousins scored for the Coyotes (0-8-1), who are off to the worst start in the NHL since the New York Rangers went 0-14-1 to open the 1943-44 season. Domingue made 20 saves.
Duclair opened the scoring at the 4:47 mark of the first for the Coyotes, who have scored first seven times in nine games.
Tavares' first goal was created by a turnover deep in the Coyotes' zone. New York center Anders Lee pinned Demers along the boards and Demers' backward pass was intercepted by Jordan Eberle. Tavares took the pass from Eberle and beat Domingue at the 3:41 mark.
The Islanders took the lead with 5:35 remaining. Eberle was dragged down by Niklas Hjalmarsson and the puck skittered to Adam Pelech, whose shot ticked off Tavares' skate and dribbled past Domingue.
The Coyotes tied the score 1:32 into the third, when Tobias Rieder's long clearing pass was corralled by Kempe at the Islanders' blue line. Kempe, draped by Pelech, deked as if he was going to pass before firing a shot past Halak.
Nelson gave the Islanders the lead again at the 4:21 mark, but the Coyotes again knotted things with 11:03 remaining, when Clayton Keller's shot into a gaggle of players in front of Halak bounced off Cousins' stick and into the net.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched C Josh Ho-Sang, D Ryan Pulock and D Dennis Seidenberg. ... The Islanders went 17-14-6 against the Western Conference in their final four seasons at Nassau Coliseum, though that span includes the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign in which there was no inter-conference play. ... The Coyotes scratched D Kevin Connauton, LW Lawson Crouse and G Adin Hill. ... The Coyotes have one win or fewer through nine games for the second time in franchise history. The then-Winnipeg Jets opened 1-6-2 in 1980-81.