Tarasenko, Allen spark Blues past Islanders

NEW YORK -- Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals in the second period and the clincher in the shootout to help the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 win against the New York Islanders at Barclays Center on Monday.
Jake Allen made 40 saves for St. Louis, which has opened the season with three straight wins. Allen has started each of the three games.

"I think every team in the League, to be honest, has a star, and he came through in the clutch today," Allen said of Tarasenko. "If he gets his chances like that, like most guys do in the League, he'll bury them. He's playing well right now."
Andrew Ladd scored with 6:56 left in the third period and Anders Lee tied the game with 59.2 seconds remaining for New York (1-1-1). Thomas Greiss made 33 saves.
Watch: [All Blues vs. Islanders highlights]
"[Allen] was seeing everything tonight," Lee said. "He controlled all his rebounds and they were playing tough in front. When he's seeing the puck like that, it's tough to get opportunities and get those second chances."
After scoring midway through the second period, Tarasenko made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 15:34. With Anthony Beauvillier in the box for high sticking, Tarasenko took a pass from Jaden Schwartz and beat Greiss with a wrist shot from the right circle. The Islanders challenged the Blues were offside prior to the goal, but the call stood after video review and New York was assessed a delay of game penalty.

"It's hard not to just sit there and be in awe of his shot, to be honest with you," Blues coach Mike Yeo said of Tarasenko. "He's so powerful."
Ladd got the Islanders within a goal when he took a pass from Jason Chimera and put in a wrist shot from the right circle past Allen to make it 2-1. It was Ladd's first goal of the season.
"It's a big point," Islanders coach Doug Weight said. "Being down 2-0 against that hockey club, home or road, we'll take the point."
Brayden Schenn and Tarasenko scored in the first two rounds of the shootout for St. Louis. Allen made saves against Jordan Eberle and Beauvillier to help the Blues improve to 3-0-0 despite injuries to key players including forwards Robby Fabbri, Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund, and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.

"Guys are taking advantage of their opportunity," Allen said. "You never know when your chance is going to come up again. Right now, there's some big opportunities for guys in our lineup that might not have had them at the start of the year if we had all our bodies. I think guys realize that and they're taking advantage of it. In this league, if you don't take advantage of your opportunity, you might not get another one. I think that's huge right now, and I think some of the young guys are realizing that and playing well."

Goal of the game

Lee sent the game to overtime when he parked himself in front of the net and backhanded Thomas Hickey's rebound past Allen.

Save of the game

Allen denied Eberle his first goal with the Islanders at 3:27 of the third period when he gloved Eberle's quick shot in front off a feed from the corner by Chimera.

Highlight of the game

Tarasenko gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 9:38 of the second period. Paul Stastny intercepted Calvin de Haan's clearing attempt at the Islanders blue line and fed Tarasenko at the left circle. Tarasenko quickly spun and released a backhand shot past Greiss for his second goal of the season.
"The way he was able to spin around and create that play, pretty impressive," Yeo said. "All three of them, including the shootout one, was pretty impressive."

They said it

"We've got a next-man-up attitude. We've got guys that want to step up and prove that they deserve the minutes, and other guys that want to raise their game and make sure that carry the group. I just want to make sure that as a coaching staff here and for our leaders inside the locker room, we should be pleased. We've had a good start to the season, but that can evaporate very quickly too. We still have a tough road trip ahead of us here. Good win today and we're going to have to regroup quickly for tomorrow." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo
"Some good moments in the game for us, and obviously some moments that weren't very good. I think coming back down two going into the third and plenty of opportunities to win the game, especially in overtime, every point counts. We'll take it and move forward and get better for this coming week." -- Islanders captain John Tavares

Need to know

Yeo announced goalie Carter Hutton will start for the Blues at the New York Rangers on Tuesday. … The Islanders went 0-for-6 on the power play, which included a two-man advantage for 1:23 of the second period. They are 0-for-10 this season.

What's next

Blues: At the New York Rangers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Islanders: At the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; PRIME, MSG+, NHL.TV)