Anders Lee’s second goal provided the Islanders with some needed breathing room and a two-goal lead midway through the third period — and they needed every bit of it.
Logan Couture netted a hat trick for the visiting Sharks and his third goal made things dicey with two minutes left, but the Islanders hung on and John Tavares added a late empty-net goal for a 5-3 win at Barclays Center on Saturday night.
“They tilted the ice for a bit, but we weathered the storm,” coach Doug Weight said. “We looked a little faster. We looked like we were playing with confidence most of the game. It was refreshing.”
The Islanders (4-3-1) won for the third time in four games as they returned home from a four-game road trip with momentum on their side.
“Hockey’s a game of momentum and right now we’re trying to build off each game,” Lee said. “Obviously it’s much nicer to build off wins. The more you continue to get those rolling and put these points in the bank now, it’s extremely important.”
Thomas Greiss recorded 23 saves between the pipes for the Islanders.
Lee was the beneficiary of some timely passing from his teammates on both goals. Nick Leddy set him up from behind the net for his first tally in the second period before Tavares used some slick moves to set up the eventual winner.
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Islanders ride pair of Anders Lee goals to victory over Sharks
Anders Lee’s second goal provided the Islanders with some needed…
Deciding between shooting and passing, Tavares faked a pass to Lee to shake off a defender and then slipped the puck just wide of the post where Lee finished off the chance to put the Islanders up 4-2 with 8:13 left in the game.
“Two great plays by some great players and they were big for us tonight,” Lee said.
“The timing was just right to put it on [Lee’s] tape and obviously he did the hard part to put it in,” Tavares said. “You try to be a dual-threat and be hard to read.”
Andrew Ladd had broken a 2-2 tie early in the third period on a perfect pass by Mathew Barzal. Barzal curled around the back of the net with the puck as Ladd set up out front for the one-timer.
“Guys around [Barzal] are starting to figure him out,” Weight said. “When you’re a deceiving player with edges when you handle the puck, sometimes you don’t fool just three or four guys on the ice, you fool eight or nine and three or four of them are yours.”
Josh Bailey had put on a stick-work clinic to give the Islanders their first lead midway through the second period on a goal that will surely make the highlight reels. It came 58 seconds after Lee’s first goal, but the 2-1 lead was short-lived as Couture answered.
The Islanders had plenty of chances to grab a lead in the opening 20 minutes — which Weight called probably their best period of the year — but didn’t miss often on converting opportunities the rest of the night.
“I think we had our legs a little bit,” Lee said. “We caught them on a back-to-back so we knew we had to create some jump and get on them as much as possible. A team like that, they put everything to the net so they get a lot of opportunities. We kind of took a little page out of their book trying to get pucks to the net and created some offense.”