Tavares starts Islanders' 3-goal 1st in 5-2 win over Blues (Nov 11, 2017)
ST. LOUIS (AP) John Tavares scored early to start New York's three-goal first period, Thomas Greiss stopped 35 shots and the Islanders beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 Saturday night.
Anders Lee had a goal and an assist, and Casey Cizikas, Jordan Eberle and Joshua Ho-Sang also scored to help the Islanders bounce back from a 5-0 loss at Dallas the previous night. Greiss won for the third time in his last four starts for New York, which had just one win in its previous four games (1-2-1).
Brayden Schenn and Scottie Upshall scored for the Blues, and Jake Allen had 14 saves before he was pulled after Ho-Sang put the Islanders up 4-0 at 3:35 of the second period. Carter Hutton came on and stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced.
One night after the Islanders mustered just 14 shots in the loss to the Stars, Tavares got them on the scoreboard 3:21 into the game as he came from behind the net and beat Allen from point-blank range.
Cizikas got the rebound of a shot by Nick Leddy and easily beat Allen to double the lead just past the midpoint of the period.
Eberle made it 3-0 as he took a pass from Jason Chimera on a 2-on-1 break and fired it past Allen on the glove side with 6:42 remaining for his sixth of the season and fourth in the last four games.
The Blues, who snapped three-game winning streak and lost for just the second time in their last nine games, had allowed only six first-period goals all season.
Ho-Sang, called up from Bridgeport of the AHL earlier in the day to replace the injured Anthony Beauvillier, then chased Allen early in the second.
The Blues finally got on the board with 8 1/2 left in the second a wrist shot from Schenn. Upshall scored off a scrum in front of Greiss at 6:41 of the third to pull St. Louis to 4-2.
Lee capped the scoring on a deflection with 4 1/2 minutes to go.
NOTES: The Blues wore camouflage jerseys during pregame warm-ups in honor of Veterans Day with the jerseys scheduled to be auctioned to benefit H.E.R.O.E.S Care and Operation Shower. ... The Islanders' Doug Weight coached in St. Louis for the first time. Weighyt played parts of six seasons with the Blues. ... The Blues held a moment of silence for Arianna Dougan, the 11-year-old girl who Vladimir Tarasenko befriended last season and who spent time with the team on a road trip while fighting cancer. She passed away earlier in the day. ... Blues F Vladimir Sobotka played in his 400th career NHL game. ... The Islanders improved to 5-0-0 when scoring first this season.
UP NEXT
Islanders: Host Carolina on Thursday night.
Blues: At Calgary on Monday night for the start of a three-game road trip.
