Red Wings 4, Islanders 2
NEW YORK -- Left winger Justin Abdelkader and defenseman Danny DeKeyser scored 71 seconds apart in the second period Monday night, and the Detroit Red Wings went into the All-Star break with a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders at Barclays Center.
Despite the announced attendance of 12,086, there were plenty of empty seats two days after winter storm Jonas dropped as much as 30 inches of snow on metropolitan New York and forced the postponement of the Islanders' game Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The storm created a travel nightmare that had not eased Monday night, when Long Island Railroad trains were not running into Brooklyn due to the slow cleanup of the tracks.
Center Brad Richards scored in the first for the Red Wings (25-16-8), who won for the seventh time in 11 games (7-3-1) to break a tie with the idle Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division. Center Luke Glendening scored an empty-netter in the final minute.
Detroit goalie Petr Mrazek made 27 saves in winning his seventh consecutive road start dating back to Dec. 26.
Center Brock Nelson scored in the first period and center Mikhail Grabovski scored with 4:48 left in the third for the Islanders (25-16-5), who absorbed their first regulation loss since Jan. 9. Goalie Jaroslav Halak recorded 22 saves.
New York, which also played its final game before the All-Star break, is in third place in the Metropolitan Division but just one point ahead of the wild-card leaders, the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, pending the result of the Bruins' game Monday against the Flyers.
Mrazek preserved the one-goal lead by turning back shots from center Ryan Strome and defenseman Marek Zidlicky within 90 seconds of Grabovski's goal.
Abdelkader's goal, which stood as the game-winner, ended a three-on-two rush by the Red Wings. Center Dylan Larkin passed to left winger Henrik Zetterberg, who wound up as if he were about to take a shot before passing to Abdelkader. Islanders defensemen Calvin de Haan and Travis Hamonic each reached out with their sticks to try to deflect the pass, but the puck made it untouched to Abdelkader, whose shot sailed over a sprawling Halak.
DeKeyser doubled the lead by putting back his own rebound. After his first shot bounced off Halak, DeKeyser wriggled past Islanders defenseman Brian Strait and fired a shot over Halak's glove.
Richards' power play goal following a scrum behind the Islanders' net gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead with 9:03 left in the first period.
Hamonic and Red Wings center Darren Helm were jockeying for the puck behind the New York net when it squirted free to Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk, who tapped it to Richards. Islanders center Frans Nielsen tried knocking the puck away but missed and Richards poked it past Halak.
The red-hot Nelson tied the score with 3:27 remaining in the first period, when he took a pass from center John Tavares, went to one knee and fired a shot under Mrazek's stick arm. It was Nelson's sixth goal in the last seven games.
NOTES: The postponement Saturday was just the third home postponement in Islanders history. Blizzards also forced games to be postponed at Nassau Coliseum on Feb. 7, 1978, and March 13, 1993. ... The Islanders scratched RW Steve Bernier and D Scott Mayfield. ... Islanders D Johnny Boychuk, who hasn't played since Dec. 31 due to an upper-body injury, skated with the team Monday morning. ... The Red Wings scratched D Niklas Kronwall (knee surgery), D Nick Jensen and LW Teemu Pulkkinen. ... LW Eric Tangradi made his debut for the Red Wings. It was his first NHL game since Dec. 18, 2014, when he was a member of the Montreal Canadiens.