Lee scores twice as Islanders defeat Blues
NEW YORK -- Anders Lee scored two goals, including the game-winner with 7:18 remaining in the third period, as the New York Islanders remained red-hot with a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues at Barclays Center.
Casey Cizikas set up the tiebreaking goal by winning a faceoff deep in the Blues zone. The puck skittered to Lee, whose slap shot sailed past Blues goaltender Jake Allen.
Lee opened the scoring in the first for the Islanders (11-10-5), who also received a goal from captain John Tavares in winning for the fifth time in six games (5-0-1). With the victory Thursday, New York moved out of last place in both the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference.
Goalie Thomas Greiss made 24 saves.
Robby Fabbri and Kyle Brodziak scored for the Blues (15-8-4), who lost for only the third time in 11 games (8-2-1). However, St Louis fell to 3-7-1 on the road.
Allen made 24 saves.
The Blues took the lead 4:36 into the first thanks to an impressive effort by Fabbri and Tarasenko. Fabbri stole the puck from Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy and passed to Tarasenko. With Leddy draped on him from behind as he bore down on Greiss, Tarasenko managed to pass across the goalmouth to Fabbri, who tucked the puck into the corner of the net.
Leddy redeemed himself by setting up the game-tying goal a mere 2:15 later, when his shot from just in front of the blue line ticked off Lee and floated past Allen.
A highlight-reel worthy unassisted goal by Tavares gave the Islanders the lead with 10:29 remaining. Tavares stole the puck from Jay Bouwmeester near center ice and shook off multiple attempts by Bouwmeester to poke it free as the two skated up the ice. Tavares finally stopped, fully corralled the puck and fired a shot past Allen for his team-high eighth goal of the season.
The Blues tied it on an unusual end-to-end rush 3:33 into the second. Fabbri was checked into the boards by Travis Hamonic, but neither Hamonic nor Nikolay Kulemin could get to the loose puck, Fabbri regained possession and passed to Brodziak, whose shot sailed under Greiss' glove.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched C Ryan Strome (flu-like symptoms) as well as G Jaroslav Halak and D Scott Mayfield. ... Islanders D Johnny Boychuk, who missed Tuesday's 4-2 win over the New York Rangers due to flu-like symptoms, returned to the lineup. ... The Blues scratched D Brad Hunt, RW Ty Rattie and RW Nail Yakupov. Hunt was recalled Wednesday from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League. ... The Blues cancelled their morning skate due to heavy traffic between their Manhattan hotel and Barclays Center. The Blues will remain in Manhattan on Thursday night prior to their game against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Friday.