Trotz gets 900th NHL win, Islanders cruise past Jets

ELMONT, N.Y. --Barry Trotz got his 900th NHL win when Josh Bailey scored twice for the New York Islanders in a 5-2 victory against the Winnipeg Jets at UBS Arena on Friday.

Trotz (900-659-166 with 60 ties) is the third coach in NHL history to win 900 games, joining Scotty Bowman (1,244) and Joel Quenneville (969). The 59-year-old is in his fourth season with New York after 15 with the Nashville Predators (1998-2014) and four with the Washington Capitals (2014-18).
"That's pretty special," Bailey said. "That's a Hall of Fame career for a Hall of Fame person, so it's a big accomplishment and we're happy for him, no question."
Brock Nelson scored for the fourth straight game and had an assist, and Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves for his first win since Jan. 18 for the Islanders (23-24-8), who won consecutive games in regulation for the first time since Nov. 4-6, following a 6-0 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
"It's cliche and simple and it's day by day, game by game, and who knows what happens," Nelson said. "You can only control what we're doing, so to get a couple wins, it feels good. It feels like we're doing some good things, playing some good hockey."

Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves for the Jets (26-23-10), who have split the first two of a three-game road trip that ends at the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
"That's the bread and butter of their game, they play a very structured game," Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrissey said. "They play physical, and they don't, I think other than the 2-on-0 we scored, they don't give you a lot of freebies. They go to the front of the net, they've got a strong forecheck and they put pucks there. Obviously, they won a few battles in front and got rewarded for it."
Nelson gave New York a 1-0 lead at 6:38 of the first period with a one-timer from the right face-off circle on a power play.
Connor tied it 1-1 at 16:58 on a 2-on-0 with Nikolaj Ehlers for his 36th goal of the season.
"I actually thought that they had a guy coming from the bench. I've never been that open," Ehlers said. "Obviously, you go for breakaways, but a 2-on-[none] like that, I've never seen that happen, so we were able to score on that, which was obviously a huge goal."

Bailey made it 2-1 at 1:09 of the second period when he scored on his rebound, and Anders Lee made it 3-1 40 seconds later when he roofed a shot over Hellebuyck. It was Lee's 20th goal of the season and sixth during a three-game goal streak.
Wheeler cut it to 3-2 20 seconds into the third period on a redirection of Dylan DeMelo's shot.
Varlamov preserved the lead at 4:08 with a pad save against Andrew Copp during an Islanders power play, and Bailey scored on a rebound at 7:14 to give New York a 4-2 lead.
Cal Clutterbuck scored an empty-net goal at 15:16 for the 5-2 final.
"It seems like he's had so many of those milestones over the past few years," Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech said of Trotz. "He's done great things for my career, for a lot of guys' careers on the team and for the team as a whole, so it's always great to see him get a milestone like that."
Trotz said he was unaware it was his 900th NHL win until after the game.
"It just means I've been around a long time," Trotz said. "I've had some good players and we've been able to win some games."
NOTES:New York has won five in a row against Winnipeg. … It's the first time the Islanders scored twice in the first two minutes of a period since Dec. 11, 2017, when Andrew Ladd (36 seconds) and John Tavares (1:34) scored in the second against the Capitals. … New York forwards Anthony Beauvillier and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each had two assists. Beauvillier has six assists in the past three games. … Islanders center Mathew Barzal (lower body) and defenseman Zdeno Chara (upper body) returned after each missed six games. Barzal had two shots on goal in 17:44 of ice time; Chara had two shots in 16:02. … Lee has scored at least 20 goals in six of his 10 NHL seasons. … New York defenseman Noah Dobson extended his point streak to five games (six points; one goal, five assists). … The Islanders finish a six-game homestand against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday (3-2-0). … Connor has scored in three straight games.