Barzal scores twice for Islanders in win against Jets

WINNIPEG -- Mathew Barzal scored two goals for the New York Islanders in a 3-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place on Thursday.

"He's shooting the puck way better," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "We talked about it last year, sort of being a dual-threat and not always a pass-first guy. He changed a lot of things this summer, and that was one of them. He scored two big, huge goals for us."
Barzal has three goals and two assists during a three-game winning streak for New York (4-3-0).
WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Jets highlights]
"He's a very talented kid, very skilled, very patient," said Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov, who made 32 saves. "He can shoot, he can pass. He's a great passer, very patient player."
Varlamov has won two straight starts after losing his first two with New York. He signed with the Islanders as a free agent July 1.
"Our goalie was good," Trotz said. "The first period, we were very fortunate to just be sitting there just down a puck. They had some good looks. If our goalie is not on it, it's a different story."

Nikolaj Ehlers scored on the power play to give the Jets a 1-0 lead at 13:12 of the first, when they outshot the Islanders 16-5.
Winnipeg (4-5-0) has lost three games in a row.
"It's not going for us right now," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "Obviously, scoring one goal, you're not going to win many games that way. I thought we did enough offensively to win the game."
Barzal tied the game 1-1 at 7:41 of the second with a one-timer off a pass from Josh Bailey on the power play.
"We've got a resilient group in here," Bailey said. "We're not going to get too high or too low. We know we're just a shot away when we're down one early like that, so we just keep fighting."

With 17 seconds remaining in the second, Barzal scored his second of the night to put the Islanders ahead 2-1. He skated the puck from near the New York blue line on a 2-on-1 and beat goalie Connor Hellebuyck with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.
"The goal at the end of the second clearly hurts because it's a controllable situation," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "That's a tough one. But there's still lots of time on the clock and there's still lots of opportunity to tie that game."
Bailey scored into an empty net with 27 seconds left to make it 3-1.
Hellebuyck made 23 saves.

They said it

"I've got pretty good linemates, so I'm just trying to feed them a little bit as well. The chemistry has been pretty good. I'm just trying to find my game still, just day by day just trying to get better." -- Islanders center Mathew Barzal, who scored two goals
"Listen, we're not sitting back in these games. We're not defending a 1-0 lead from the second period on. It's not a function of us not having a killer instinct." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice

Need to know

Islanders forward Anders Lee had an eight-game goal streak against the Jets end. ... The Jets have scored at least one power-play goal in four straight games. They were 1-for-2. ... Winnipeg went 0-for-1 on the penalty kill and is 9-for-16 this season (56.3 percent), last in the NHL. ... Jets center Mark Scheifele had a five-game point streak end (three goals, six assists).

What's next

Islanders: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Jets: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN1, NHL.TV)