Anders Lee lifts Islanders to third straight win

NEW YORK -- Anders Lee scored two power-play goals and J-F Berube made 34 saves in his first start since Dec. 18 to help the New York Islanders to a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Barclays Center on Saturday.
It was Berube's first win of the season and the Islanders (19-17-8) third in a row. Although they're still last in the Eastern Conference, they moved within five points of the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

"We're entering relevance," said Islanders coach Doug Weight, who is 2-0 since replacing Jack Capuano, who was fired Tuesday. "They're starting to believe."
WATCH: All Islanders vs. Kings highlights
Lee's second goal and 17th of the season, a deflection of defenseman Nick Leddy's shot at 9:31 of the third period, was the game-winner. Lee also scored on a rebound of John Tavares' shot at 7:09 of the second period to extend his point streak to four games.
Jason Chimera and Tavares also scored for the Islanders, who went 3-for-5 on the power play after going 0-for-21 in their past six games, including 0-for-11 in the past two.
"We were a little [upset] with the way things were going, getting opportunities but not finishing," Lee said. "Special teams are going to be huge down the stretch and right now we have the momentum, so we have to keep that going."

The Kings (22-20-4) have lost three in a row and four of their past six games.
Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty scored in the first 4:06 of the third period to erase the Islanders lead. Carter's goal, a power-play goal at 37 seconds, ended New York's shutout streak at 166:44. Doughty scored 3:29 later on a shot that deflected in off Leddy.
However, Derek Forbort went to the penalty box for holding Chimera at 9:20 of the third period, and Lee scored on the deflection 10 seconds later.
Lee has four goals in two games against the Kings this season.
"They scored those two power-play goals [the] same way, where they're between the goalie and the defenseman in front," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "We gotta stop the puck and win a battle."
The Islanders had a 2-0 lead despite getting outshot 27-18 through two periods. They outshot the Kings 18-9 in the third. Tavares scored an empty-net goal at 19:17, his eighth goal in the past five games.
"Just our composure, we didn't panic," Berube said. "We gave up two quick goals, but we didn't see anything changing. I think we actually picked it up after we gave up those two quick goals. They're a good team, really big, and that's what we had to do, outwork them."
Chimera gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead on their first shot 2:30 into the game. Lee made it 2-0 lead by scoring on a rebound from the left post after Kings goalie Peter Budaj (32 saves) stopped Tavares' shot from the top of the left circle.

Goal of the game

Lee kept his balance and his position on Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin long enough to wait for his teammates to work the puck around on the power play and back to Leddy at the point for a shot. Lee stayed in position to get a piece of it and deflect it past Budaj for the game-winner.

Save of the game

Berube made a right pad save on Dustin Brown's one-timer from between the circles at 4:41 of the second period. It came off of a pass from Tanner Pearson out of the corner. Lee scored less than three minutes later to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead.

Highlight of the game

Leddy was up the ice when Muzzin broke out of the penalty box and immediately got sprung for a would-be breakaway late in the second period. However, Leddy used his speed on the backcheck to make up the ice in between him and Muzzin and prevented the Kings defenseman from getting a scoring chance. Leddy did the same to Trevor Lewis at 9:18 of the second period.

Unsung performance of the game

Islanders forwards Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome and Anthony Beauvillier matched up against Carter's line, including Pearson and Brown. They prevented them from scoring at even strength and limited Carter to three even-strength shots on goal, none in the third period.

They said it

"Guys are playing with a little bit of confidence. When you start to get momentum like this, things seem to come easy to you. You don't have to overwork and you can play smart, not be thinking out there. Right now we're not turning the puck over in bad areas, and if we are we have J-F [Berube] and [Thomas Greiss] back there backing us up." -- Islanders forward Anders Lee

Need to know

The Islanders hadn't scored more than one power play goal in a game this season until Saturday. … Kings center Nic Dowd didn't play the third period after sustaining an undisclosed injury in the second period.

What's next

Kings: At the New York Rangers on Monday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-W, SN, SN1, TVA Sports, NHL.TV)
Islanders: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday (6 p.m. ET; MSG+, CSN-PH, NHL.TV)