Little scores 2 in Jets win vs. Isles
NEW YORK -- Bryan Little scored twice in the first period Thursday night as the Winnipeg Jets damaged the New York Islanders' playoff hopes with a 4-2 win at Barclays Center.
Mathieu Perreault and Adam Lowry scored in the second period for the Jets (31-33-7), who snapped a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) and closed within eight points of the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card in the Western Conference.
Goalie Connor Hellebuyck recorded 27 saves.
Adam Pelech scored in the first period and Anders Lee added a third-period goal for the Islanders (33-26-11), whose loss assured they'd fall out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
New York began the day with the tiebreaker edge over the Tampa Bay Lightning, who played the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. The Maple Leafs entered Thursday one point behind the Islanders and Lightning, which ensures that whomever wins the Toronto-Tampa Bay game will take sole possession of the second wild card spot.
Goalie Thomas Greiss had 24 saves for the Islanders, who have lost three of four (1-3-0).
The Islanders took the lead 38 seconds into the first period when Pelech's shot from just inside the blue line sailed between Lee and Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien and past the screened Hellebuyck.
Little scored twice in the final 11 minutes of the period to give the Jets the lead. Little tied the score by poking the rebound of Nikolaj Ehlers' shot into the open right corner of the net at 9:22.
A pair of nifty passes from Ehlers and Nic Petan set up Little's power-play goal with 1:25 remaining in the first.
Chiarot picked up the puck behind the Jets' net and raced up the ice and in between the faceoff circles in the Islanders' zone, where he was surrounded by New York's Calvin De Haan, Stephen Gionta and Dennis Seidenberg. Chiarot dished to Petan, who, with his back to the net, immediately passed to Little, whose shot from the faceoff dot sailed under Greiss' legs.
The Jets extended the lead to 4-1 in the second, when they had another goal waved off.
A battle for the puck deep in the Islanders' zone resulted in Perreault's goal 3:24 into the period. Islanders right winger Cal Clutterbuck and Jets right winger Blake Wheeler were fighting for the puck which bounced to Perreault, whose shot went under Greiss' stick hand.
The Jets appeared to score again on a goal by Petan just beyond the midway point of the period, but it was waved off on replay, which showed right winger Patrik Laine was offside.
Lowry left no doubt with 8:29 left, when he rebounded his own shot into the upper right corner of the net.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched D Johnny Boychuk (lower body) and LW Shane Prince (leg) as well as LW Anthony Beauvillier and D Scott Mayfield. Boychuk has missed the last seven games while Prince was sidelined for the fifth straight time. ... The Jets scratched D Toby Enstrom (concussion), C Shawn Matthias (upper body), G Ondrej Pavelec (knee surgery) and D Jacob Trouba (upper body). Pavelec hasn't played since Feb. 7 while Enstrom has missed the last three games and Matthias and Trouba each sat for the second straight time.