3 Takeaways: Islanders Soar Past Jets 5-2

The New York Islanders flew past the Winnipeg Jets as they claimed a 5-2 victory on Friday night at UBS Arena.
Josh Bailey fueled the victory with a two-goal effort, while Brock Nelson extended his goal streak to four games with a power-play goal and Anders Lee and Cal Clutterbuck (empty net) also scored. Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anthony Beauvillier each handed out two assists.
Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves on 29 shots as he earned a well-deserved victory between the pipes.
For the Jets, Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler scored and Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves on 37 shots in the loss.

"I liked a lot of things in our game," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said, as he earned his 900th career coaching win. "The number one thing was, we were skating, we were managing the puck, playing with some pace and we got rewarded for it. I thought our first period was pretty good… Early in the second [period] we were skating and on top of them. We were creating those turnovers. We stayed in the fight. We had good sticks, created some loose pucks and then we got away from that. They had their push; we had some good saves by Varly. The third, they scored early, but on the bench, there was no panic. That mindset was really quite good."

ISLANDERS GAIN TRACTION IN DOMINANT WIN

Both teams entered the game coming off wins in the first legs of their respective back-to-back sets. The Islanders appended off the success they had in their 6-0 blanking over the Columbus Blue Jackets the night prior as they executed a full 60-minute effort, backed by stingy defense, gritty scoring and rolling all four lines en route to soaring past Winnipeg and winning their first consecutive pair of games since winning three straight from Jan. 17 through Jan. 21.
The team also got a boost in its lineup as it featured the return of forward Mathew Barzal (lower body) and defenseman Zdeno Chara (upper body) for the first time since Feb. 26 after each player missed six-straight games.
The first period which ended in a 1-1 tie, featured a feeling out process in the opening minutes of the game between teams, but the Islanders converted on their first power-play opportunity of the game to extend their streak of scoring at least one strike on the power play to four games and score the game's icebreaker.

After Connor took a hooking penalty on Barzal at 5:48, the Islanders made the Jets pay. Nelson buried his team-leading 23rd goal of the season short-side from a knee-drop one-timer at the right faceoff circle off Beauvillier's quick feed across the slot. With the secondary assist, Noah Dobson extended his point streak to five-straight games during which the blueliner has compiled six points (1G, 5A) in that span.
Despite managing the remainder of the first period and outshooting Winnipeg 11-6, an unfortunate turnover and poorly timed line change afforded the Jets a golden 2-on-0 opportunity where they equalized the score 1-1. Winnipeg promptly countered off a rebound as the Islanders' lack of coverage and communication afforded the 2-on-0 rush which Winnipeg capitalized on at 16:58 as Connor's low one-timer on Nikolaj Ehlers's feed beat Varlamov.
The Islanders pulled away in the second period and came out with a convincing middle frame to take a 3-1 lead in the span of 40 seconds just over a minute into play.
ISLANDERS 5, JETS 2
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Full Highlights

KINGER'S CALLS
Nelson's Power-Play Goal
Bailey Buries Rebound
Lee Pads Lead
Bailey's Second of the Game
Clutterbuck's Empty-Net Goal
Bailey scored his first of the game at 1:09 on a rebound and just 40 seconds later, the Islanders didn't pump the brakes as they extended their lead 3-1. From his office at the net front, Lee grabbed a loose puck off Nelson's initial shot, showed poise and lofted it over Hellebuyck's glove to score his 20th goal of the season and sixth goal in the last three games.
The Jets cut their deficit down 3-2 early in the third period as Wheeler buried a backdoor rebound 20 seconds in the period, but the Islanders iced the game with Bailey's second of the game at 7:14 in the third and an empty-net goal from Clutterbuck at 15:16.

VICTORY FOR VARLAMOV

Coming into the game, it had been a tough stretch for Varlamov who had gone six-straight games without a win. But following his 27-save performance in his 17th start of the season, Varlamov got back in the win column and improved his record to 4-12-1 record.
The losses certainly weren't for a lack of effort. Against Colorado's high-octane offense on Monday night, Varlamov made 44 saves in the 5-4 loss on a season-high 49 shots he faced. Following the loss, the Islanders even admitted they hadn't given Varlamov enough goal support through this recent stretch and stressed the importance of playing better in front of Varlamov.
"He's been battling for us all year long," Clutterbuck said of Varlamov. "He's been playing really well lately so it was nice to get him one."
While Varlamov's workload against Winnipeg wasn't immensely taxing nor did he see the same volume of shots as he did against a team like Colorado, the Islanders netminder continued to be sharp.

Despite padding their lead 3-1 early in the second period and not allowing the Jets to get more than one shot on goal off through eight minutes, Varlamov was engaged for the duration of the period. The Russian netminder came up with timely stops on the nine shots he saw including robbing Ehlers on two occasions.
In the third period, Varlamov held steady and came up with clutch saves. He denied a shorthanded chance early in the period on Josh Morrissey's tripping call taken at 3:04 and later denied Mark Scheifele's backhanded attempt on Winnipeg's sole power play of the game with just under seven minutes to play.

BAILEY BOUNCING BACK

Lee was the story of the game on Thursday night as the Islanders blanked Columbus 6-0 and the effort was led by the captain's first-ever career hat trick, but on Friday night, Bailey was deservedly praised as he scored twice.

After not finding the back of the net since Jan. 18, Bailey scored on Thursday night against the Blue Jackets and then proceeded to post a two-goal outing against the Jets the following night prompting multiple adoring "Hey Josh Bailey" chants from the Islanders' fans. The recent goal production was a nice affirmation for Bailey, who had gone through a scoring drought and been a healthy scratch for two games (San Jose and Los Angeles) on the Islanders west-coast road trip at the end of February.
"I really liked Josh's game, he deserved to get the two goals," Trotz said of Bailey. "He tracked people, he's got a little bit of that edge and playoff mentality I think we've seen Josh play within the playoffs, he's got that mindset. Josh cares and he wants results and I'm glad he got some. He's getting some results because his mind is in the right spot, he's shooting the puck, he's moving his feet and he's got that little edge right now that you want. There are some doubters out there and I want him to prove them wrong too. Let's face it, he's a proud guy, a really good hockey player and a good person."

With the score tied 1-1 heading into the second period, the veteran winger got his first goal of the game to double the Islanders' lead 2-1 at 1:09. After taking the initial shot Bailey followed up and put away Hellebuyck's rebound on the doorstep.
Bailey restored the Islanders' two-goal lead to 4-2 at 7:14 in the final frame of play to give the Islanders some piece of mind especially after the Jets found the back of the net 30 seconds into the period. As Adam Pelech ripped a long-range shot, Bailey circled down to the low slot into perfect position to pot Hellebuyck's rebound for his sixth goal of the season and second of the game.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders conclude their six-game homestand as they host the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.