Lee scores twice, Islanders defeat Sharks

NEW YORK -- Anders Lee scored two goals, and John Tavares had a goal and two assists to help the New York Islanders to a 5-3 win against the San Jose Sharks at Barclays Center on Saturday.

Josh Bailey and Andrew Ladd also scored for New York (4-3-1). Thomas Greiss made 28 saves.
Tavares had gone five straight games without a point. All six of his points this season have come in two games; he had two goals and an assist in the Islanders' 6-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 7.
WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Islanders highlights]
"I'm counted on to produce," Tavares said. "Definitely when I have my opportunities, I want to put them in and obviously create as many as I can. I obviously want to be consistent as well, so I'll try to build off today."
Logan Couture had a hat trick for San Jose (3-4-0), which played the second of a five-game road trip. Brent Burns and Joe Thornton each had two assists, and Aaron Dell made 18 saves.
"He was excellent," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said of Couture. "I thought our effort as a team was pretty good. We're on the road, tough building, back-to-back [games]. I thought it could have gone either way.
"They capitalized on a few mistakes we made. We couldn't finish a couple off, but that's the game."
Lee's second goal made it 4-2 when he scored on a 2-on-1 with Tavares at 11:47 of the third after Ladd put the Islanders ahead earlier in the period.

"I was never worried about Johnny," Lee said of Tavares' scoring drought. "He's making plays each and every night. It's a game of bounces, and he's creating plays all the time. He continued to do that again tonight."
Couture gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 6:26 into the second period. With Brock Nelson in the box for hooking, Couture parked himself in the slot and redirected Burns' shot from the right point past Griess for his fourth goal of the season.
The Islanders responded with two goals 58 seconds apart to take a 2-1 lead. Lee tied the game at 7:33 of the second period when he one-timed Nick Leddy's feed past Dell. Bailey gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 8:31.
Couture's second goal of the game made it 2-2 at 12:44 of the second when he took a pass from Jannik Hansen and put a wrist shot from the edge of the left circle past Greiss.
Couture completed the hat trick with 1:52 remaining in the third period when he redirected Burns' shot past Greiss to make it 4-3.
"He looks like the player who led the Stanley Cup Playoffs in scoring a little over a year ago," DeBoer said of Couture, who helped the Sharks reach the 2016 Stanley Cup Final with 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 24 games. "It's good to see, we're going to need him."
Tavares scored an empty-net goal with 55.4 seconds left.
"He could have had five or six points," Islanders coach Doug Weight said. "He was in charge tonight."

Goal of the game

Ladd gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 3:12 of the third period when Mathew Barzal skated around the Sharks net with the puck before sending it to Ladd, who one-timed it from the bottom of the left circle past Dell.

Save of the game

Greiss preserved the 3-2 lead with 15:29 remaining in the third period when he managed to glove Tomas Hertl's wrist shot from the left circle.

Highlight of the game

Bailey intercepted a pass from Thornton in the slot, worked his way around Joe Pavelski by putting the puck between his skates and poked it past Dell.

They said it

"Looking back over the summer, my year last year was OK. It could have been better. I wanted to improve this season. It's been a good start; obviously, the team hasn't played the way we're capable of, and that's the most important thing. We have to figure out how to win games right now." -- Sharks forward Logan Couture
"It's huge. We had all summer to think about the first month of the season and the importance of our start. You look at where we finished last year, obviously it was a point out (of the Stanley Cup Playoffs). It's extremely close, but you look back at the start of the season, if we get one point out of there, something might change. But obviously, every team can say that kind of thing, but we learned from our experience." -- Islanders forward Anders Lee

Need to know

It was the second hat trick of Couture's NHL career. … San Jose outshot New York 16-6 in the third period. … The Islanders are 22-4-4 against Western Conference opponents at Barclays Center since beginning play there for the 2015-16 season.

What's next

Sharks: At the New York Rangers on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, MSG, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Islanders: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-A, NHL.TV)