It’s getting easier for the Islanders.
With their second line playing like their first, the Islanders won for the seventh time in eight games, easily handling the Canucks 5-2 Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
Coach Doug Weight wouldn’t call his offense explosive, but the emergence of the team’s second line of Mathew Barzal, Andrew Ladd and Jordan Eberle has become the missing component to solve some previous offensive woes.
The second line got goals from Ladd and Eberle while Barzal extended his point streak to seven games with an assist.
“They’ve definitely taken pressure off [the first line],” Weight said after the Isles outshot Vancouver 36-25. “They’ve both fed off each other.”
Ladd put the Islanders on the board early after a sluggish start when he took an outlet clearance and sped past a stone-footed Canucks defense for a top-shelf shorthanded breakaway goal at 5:23. That lead didn’t last long after a Scott Mayfield penalty and Jaroslav Halak’s suspect goaltending allowed ex-Islander Thomas Vanek to tie the game with a quick poke-in just a minute later to cap the power play.
But with their former prospect Anders Nilsson manning the nets for Vancouver, the Isles retook the lead.
Calvin de Haan scored at 16:42 pf the opening period when he guided a laster past Nilsson, who did his best to remain winless against the Islanders while maintaining his 6.72 goals-against average against his former team.
Moments later, Eberle grabbed his 10th of the season when he connected after some pretty passing between Barzal and Johnny Boychuk.
“Our lines are really starting to click,” said Eberle, who notched the 400th point of his career with the goal. “When you have two lines that are really dangerous, it’s tough for teams to defend that. We seem to have that.”
After Eberle’s goal, the Islanders’ first line went to work. Anders Lee netted the team’s lone goal in the second period when he tapped in his 13th of the season when the puck caromed off a slew of Canucks defenders to push the lead to 4-1. While the Canucks got one back when Bo Horvat scored a shorthanded goal later in the second, a strong defensive showing in the third and a goal from captain John Tavares capped off a carefree third period for the Islanders.
“We’re doing a really good job at maintaining possession in the zone and wearing them down,” Lee said. “I know it sounds simple and all cliché, but when we play the right way, it’s pretty effective.”
Weight backed Lee’s claim, lauding the Isles defense that looked surprisingly stout in the third period, compared to the consistent shakiness they’ve shown this season.
He also credited Halak, who had 23 saves, none bigger than his glove save that snatched a goal away from Michael Del Zotto to preserve a 4-2 lead early in the third.
“We’ve got rid of some of the circling that we’ve been doing early in the year. We just got to keep on it,” Weight said.