Tavares nets 7th career hat trick as Islanders top Coyotes
NEW YORK (AP) John Tavares completed his hat trick with a tiebreaking goal in the third period, lifting the New York Islanders over the winless Arizona Coyotes 5-3 on Tuesday night.
The Islanders won their third straight and improved to 5-3-1. Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves for New York.
Adam Pelech had three assists for the Islanders, and fellow defenseman Scott Mayfield cemented the win with his first goal of the season at 17:03.
The Coyotes - starting a five-game road trip - fell to 0-8-1 under new coach Rick Tocchet.
Tavares' seventh career three-goal game came on a night when he also moved past Islanders forward Bob Bourne into seventh place on the career franchise goals list. The 27-year-old Tavares has six goals this season and 241 career tallies. Bourne had 238 goals with the Islanders from 1974-86.
Brock Nelson put the Islanders ahead 3-2 early in the third on the power play, but Arizona's Nick Cousins tied it at 8:57 with a long-range shot that eluded Halak.
Nelson's fifth goal of the season on a snapshot from the right circle beat goalie Louis Domingue at 4:32 of the third, three minutes after Arizona's Mario Kempe tied it at 2.
Tavares scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season in the second after Arizona's Anthony Duclair scored early in the first.
Duclair opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 4:47 of the first. Duclair finished off a passing play started by former Ranger Derek Stepan and rookie Clayton Keller.
The goal was Duclair's second of the season and came with Anders Lee of the Islanders in the penalty box for tripping.
It was the seventh time in nine games the Coyotes scored a first- period goal.
Starting an eight-day road trip, the Coyotes had the better of play in the first, outshooting the Islanders 14-6 before a sparse crowd at Barclays Center.
Stepan, traded to Arizona by the Rangers after last season, has two goals and five assists in his last seven games for the low-scoring Coyotes, who have 21 goals in nine games. Six of those goals are from the 19-year-old Keller, who had two assists against the Islanders.
Tavares tied it at 3:41 of the second when he tipped in a pass from Jordan Eberle after linemate Anders Lee stripped the puck from Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers to the right of Domingue, who is 0-5 so far after being pressed into a leading role with starter Antti Raanta out with a lower-body injury for the past two weeks.
Tavares put the Islanders ahead when a pass from Pelech towards Tavares in the slot, banked in off Tavares' skate at 14:25 of the second.
Eberle, who assisted on Tavares' first two goals and has six assists on the campaign, has yet to score through nine games in his first season with the Islanders.
NOTES: The Coyotes will host the Islanders on Jan. 22. ... The Islanders scratched forward Josh Ho-Sang and defensemen Ryan Pulock and Dennis Seidenberg while the Coyotes scratched defenseman Kevin Connauton, forward Lawson Crouse and goaltender Antti Raanta.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: At New York Rangers on Thursday night.
Islanders: At Minnesota on Thursday night.
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