Islanders 4, Blue Jackets 3
NEW YORK -- Center Anders Lee was credited with the game-winning goal early in the third period Thursday night as the New York Islanders moved closer to clinching a playoff berth by edging the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3, at Barclays Center.
Lee was stationed in front of the net when Johnny Boychuk's slap shot bounced off the boards and into the goalmouth. Lee appeared to get his stick on the puck just before it trickled through the legs of Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky at the 5:23 mark.
John Tavares scored twice in the first period and Thomas Hickey also scored in the first for the wild card race-leading Islanders (42-25-9), who won their third in a row to move six points ahead of the ninth-place Detroit Red Wings. New York is four points ahead of the second wild card, the Philadelphia Flyers.
Goalie Thomas Greiss made 21 saves for the Islanders, who lost their most durable defenseman, Travis Hamonic, to a lower-body injury in the first period.
Brandon Dubinsky scored in the first, Brandon Saad scored in the second and Boone Jenner tied the game 37 seconds into the third for the Blue Jackets (30-39-8), who have lost four straight (0-4-0) and eight of 10 (2-8-0).
Bobrovsky recorded 23 saves for the Blue Jackets, who began Thursday one point ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers in the "race" to avoid finishing last in the NHL.
The Blue Jackets took the early lead by scoring on their first shot in an eventful first period.
Jenner set up the goal by blocking a shot Boychuk. Jenner then outraced Boychuk to the puck and pushed it forward with his stick to Dubinsky, who skated alone along the left side of the ice before firing a shot under Greiss' glove at the 4:14 mark.
A clearing pass out of the Columbus zone by Islanders center Josh Bailey led to an impressive goal by Tavares with 3:11 left in the opening period. Bailey's pass hit a waiting Tavares, who passed to Ryan Strome before breaking for the net. Strome then passed to Tavares, whose shot sailed to the left of a sprawling Bobrovsky.
The Islanders took and doubled their lead in a 41-second span late in the period. Hickey's goal -- which traveled through a gaggle of bodies in front of Bobrovsky -- had not been announced yet when Tavares scored his second goal with 1:28 remaining.
Tavares' tally was set up when Brian Strait's shot bounced off the boards and to Nikolay Kulemin, who passed up on the rebound attempt and instead tapped it back to Tavares, who buried it in the left corner for his first two-goal period since Nov. 16.
The second goal was being announced when Lee and Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout fought in front of the Columbus net.
The Blue Jackets pulled within 3-2 with 4:12 left in the second, when Saad's shot split Boychuk and Calvin de Haan and was slowed but not stopped by Greiss, who allowed the puck to skitter between his legs and into the net.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched C Mikhail Grabovski (concussion), G Jaroslav Halak (lower body) and D Marek Zidlicky (upper body) as well as RW Steve Bernier, LW Eric Boulton and D Ryan Pulock. ... Bernier turned 31 Thursday. ... The Blue Jackets scratched RW David Clarkson (lower body), G Curtis McElhinney (knee surgery), D Fedor Tyutin (undisclosed) as well as LW Rene Bourque and D Justin Falk, the latter of whom was recalled from Lake Erie of the AHL on Thursday. In addition, RW Jared Boll served the final game of a four-game suspension for a late hit against Philadelphia RW Pierre-Edouard Bellemare on March 22. ... Blue Jackets LW Sonny Milano, a native of Massapequa on Long Island, made his NHL debut. The 19-year-old was recalled from AHL Lake Erie on Wednesday.