Beauvillier helps Islanders end Rangers winning streak at four

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Anthony Beauvillier had a goal and three assists for the New York Islanders in a 6-1 win against the New York Rangers at Nassau Coliseum on Tuesday.

Beauvillier had played seven straight games without a goal and five without a point.
"It's just one of those nights where everything seems to go in, and you just kind of enjoy them and move forward after," Beauvillier said. "It's nice, especially when you've been struggling a little bit the past couple of games."
Josh Bailey had two goals and an assist for the Islanders (29-13-4), who scored three goals in the third period. Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves.
"The Rangers have been playing really well, and they keep finding a way to climb up the standings, so we wanted to do our best to push them back down," Bailey said. "All in all, good overall win tonight."
Kevin Rooney scored for the Rangers (23-17-6), who had won four in a row. Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves.
"They're a good squad," defenseman Brendan Smith said. "They're playoff ready, and we got a little taste of that for sure."
The Islanders tied the Washington Capitals for first place in the eight-team MassMutual East Division, one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Rangers are fifth, six points behind the fourth-place Boston Bruins, who won 2-0 at the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"We just weren't playing the way we needed to play if we were going to have a chance tonight," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "I thought we were sloppy, I thought we were too high-risk, too east-west. We weren't playing fast enough."
Bailey, who missed two games with an undisclosed injury, one-timed a feed in front from Jean-Gabriel Pageau to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 17:42 of the first period.

Brock Nelson redirected a pass from the left circle by Nick Leddy to make it 2-0 at 1:38 of the second period.
Beauvillier made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 5:45 on a shot from the right circle.
"It's definitely good for his confidence," Pageau said of Beauvillier. "But I thought tonight, his defensive play, that's what created all the offensive chances after. … When 'Beau's' moving his feet like that he's a hard player to defend. He's a smart player. He's got really good vision and was able to find 'Bails' and me today on the ice."
Rooney cut it to 3-1 at 11:04 on a redirection of Brendan Smith's shot from beyond the face-off circles.
Varlamov preserved the two-goal lead when he denied Mika Zibanejad on a breakaway at 15:52, then made back-to-back pad saves against Brett Howden, beginning at 18:29.
"You need that," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "You don't get that [save], and it's 3-2 and they get a little momentum and they're feeling good. That was key for me."
Pageau one-timed a pass from Beauvillier at 7:44 of the third period to increase the lead to 4-1.

Bailey pushed it to 5-1 off a no-look backhand feed from Beauvillier at 10:16, and Jordan Eberle scored his 15th of the season at 11:22 for the 6-1 final.
"Everyone was playing on top of their game, playing for each other, supporting each other," Islanders forward Travis Zajac said. "We were aggressive. We played the right way."
The Rangers played the last two periods without defenseman Jacob Trouba, who sustained an upper-body injury from a hit by Islanders forward Matt Martin at 9:15 of the first. There was no update after the game.
"It's one of our leaders and a guy that's been playing well," Zibanejad said. "Obviously that shakes things up a little bit, but I think we should do a better job trying to work for him and work together in a situation like that."
NOTES: Bailey had three shots on goal and was plus-3 in 15:06 of ice time in his return. … Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck (undisclosed) missed his third straight game. … Eberle has scored five points (one goal, four assists) in his past five games. … The Islanders (19-2-2 in 23 games) are the first NHL team to reach 40 home points this season. Their best is in 22 games (18-0-4), set in 1978-79. … Rangers rookie forward Vitali Kravtsov had an assist and has scored a point in back-to-back games.