Anders Lee scored two goals, including the game-winner with 7:18 remaining, to help the New York Islanders to a 3-2 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Barclays Center on Thursday. Lee, who has seven goals in his past eight games, broke a 2-2 tie with a slap shot from below the left circle after Casey Cizikas won a faceoff in the offensive zone. John Tavares scored and Thomas Greiss made 24 saves for New York (11-10-5), which extended its point streak to six games (5-0-1). Robby Fabbri and Kyle Brodziak scored and Jake Allen made 24 saves for St. Louis (15-8-4), which saw its five-game point streak end. Allen had won eight straight starts. Fabbri gave the Blues a 1-0 lead 4:36 into the game. Vladimir Tarasenko skated past Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy up the right wing and drove hard to the net before Fabbri collected the puck and put it past Greiss for his sixth goal. Lee tied it with a power-play goal at 6:51 of the first period when he redirected Leddy's shot from the point past Allen for his sixth goal. Tavares put New York ahead 2:40 later when he put a wrist shot past Allen from the slot. The Blues tied it when Brodziak took a pass from Fabbri and beat Greiss with a wrist shot from the left circle to make it 2-2 at 3:33 of the second period.
* On a remarkable individual effort, Tavares stripped Jay Bouwmeester of the puck near the blue line, drove towards the slot and spun away from Bouwmeester before sending a wrist shot past Allen to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 9:31 of the first period."I'm just trying to cause some pressure, cause a turnover, and I was able to get the puck," Tavares said. "You just try to be strong on it and make a play. I ended up being in the slot, I had some time, so I tried to shoot for his blocker side. It kind of hit something and went in. I just want to keep contributing."
* Greiss made sure the Islanders took a one-goal lead into the first intermission when he robbed Paul Stastny late in the period on a wrist shot from point-blank range.
* With the game tied 2-2 in the third period, Cizikas managed to win a faceoff against Statsny in the Blues zone, allowing Lee to get off a clean shot from the bottom of the left circle for the game-winning goal.
* Defenseman Calvin de Haan led the Islanders with four blocked shots. He had 69 entering the game, the third-most in the NHL.
"You play 40 good minutes, and obviously six or eight good minutes in the third. We just need more. We need more from people; top-end guys we need more from. You can't just keep relying on guys like Fabbri and [Jaden] Schwartz to carry the day. We need more from other people there, it's just the bottom line." Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said.
"We just left the game to chance. We didn't really do enough to really gain control of the game. That's what happens. They're a team that's playing well and they're playing with confidence. They were out to make a play and score a goal, so we've just got to find a way to gain control of the game earlier on and not make it 50-50 like that." Brodziak said.
Forward Robby Fabbri scored two goals to help the St. Louis Blues defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 at Prudential Center on Friday. Ryan Reaves and Jaden Schwartz also scored, Vladimir Tarasenko had three assists, and Jake Allen made 20 saves for the Blues (16-8-4), who have won six straight against the Devils and are 5-1-0 all-time at Prudential Center. The win was the second in the past eight road games (2-6-0) for the Blues. The line of Fabbri, Jori Lehtera, and Tarasenko combined for two goals, six points and a plus-6 rating. Allen, playing in the second game of a back-to-back, made 24 saves in a 3-2 loss at the New York Islanders on Thursday. PA Parenteau scored and Keith Kinkaid made 28 saves for the Devils (12-9-6), who have not outshot their opponent in the past 11 games, and lost at home in regulation for the first time this season (8-1-2). Fabbri scored his second of the game and eighth of the season off a 2-on-1 to give the Blues a 4-1 lead 11:24 into the third. Reaves and Schwartz scored in the second when the Blues built a 3-1 lead. Reaves scored his first of the season for a 2-0 lead. Parenteau scored his first goal in 15 games when he jammed in a rebound over Allen's glove at the right post at 6:36 to get the Devils to within a goal before Schwartz scored his 11th of the season with six seconds remaining on a 5-on-3 power play at 9:42. Fabbri gave the Blues a 1-0 lead 1:50 into the first off a wrist shot from the right circle.
* Reaves scored his first of the season and first in 39 games on a perfect deflection from the slot 5:15 into the second.
* Allen extended his right pad to stop a one-timer from the slot against Travis Zajac with the Devils on a power play 1:12 into the second.
* Tarasenko had a season-high three assists in his sixth multi-point game of the season. He had eight shots on goal and two takeaways.
* Kory Nagy, drafted by the Devils in the fifth round (No. 142) of the 2008 NHL Draft, was one of the linesmen working the game. ... Defenseman Brad Hunt made his debut for the Blues after being recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Thursday; he had the primary assist on Fabbri's first goal. ... Devils center Pavel Zacha skated Friday morning for the first time since sustaining a facial laceration in a 5-4 overtime victory against the Nashville Predators on Dec. 3; he has missed the past three games and remains day to day. ... Hynes provided an update on forward Patrik Elias (right knee), who has continued to skate on his own since September. "He's not out of the picture and still going through the process of trying to figure out whether or not he's going to be able to play. He's still training, still skating and using the facilities. He's working to see if this is going to be something he feels, and we feel, he's going to be able to play. But we're not at that point yet."
"I'm just sticking with it, trying to be consistent and play to my strengths, compete on pucks, be tenacious, get on the forecheck and create those turnovers. When I'm playing with [Tarasenko] and [Lehtera] I'm just trying to work off of them because they're so talented. I try to get in prime areas and when I do, I just want to put it in." Robby Fabbri
"They're really dangerous every shift because they're smart offensive players. This is the best [Fabbri] has played for us since he's been here; he fought off checks to score both his goals." Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said.
"We had a quick turnaround and wanted to bounce back and put in a great effort and I thought it was a really good road game." Allen said.
Blues @ Wild 1-3 - Sunday, December 11, 2016
The Minnesota Wild got their fourth straight win with a 3-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday. Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves for the Wild (15-8-4). He is 6-0-2 in his past eight games and leads the NHL with four shutouts, a .946 save percentage and 1.66 goals-against average.
Jake Allen made 22 saves for St. Louis (16-9-4). Mikael Granlund scored an empty-net goal at 19:01 of the third period to give the Wild a 3-1 lead. Eric Staal got an assist for his 800th NHL point. Matt Dumba gave the Wild a 1-0 lead 45 seconds into the second period. Zach Parise got an assist for his first point in the past seven games. Nino Niederreiter made it 2-0 at 7:49 of the second. Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko ended Dubnyk's shutout at 15:48 to pull the Blues within 2-1. Tarasenko has seven goals and 12 points in his past nine games. Minnesota is 9-3-0 at home. The Wild lead the NHL in team save percentage (.934) and goals-against average (2.04).
* Dumba scored on a wrist shot and has a goal in each of the past two games."I'm just trying to shoot the puck and stay within my game, and just play hard," Dumba said. "I guess confidence comes with scoring the goals, but I think I'm just sticking with the process and what I'm trying to do, what I'm trying to do all year."
* Allen robbed Jason Pominville in close to keep the score 2-0 at 9:55 of the second period.
* Allen made three big saves on Wild forward Jason Zucker, including stopping him on a breakaway at 5:34 of the second period.
*
Staal has six points (five assists) in his past eight games. … Niederreiter has nine points in the past 10 games and is second on the Wild in goals with eight this season. … It was Blues assistant Mike Yeo's first game in Minnesota since being fired by the Wild on Feb. 13 last season.
Blues Quotes
"I think we have to respect the team that they have. You have to respect the group of forwards they have there. They have three great lines, they're speedy and they know how to play and get opportunities." Allen said.
"I think [Allen] was tremendous in net. He gave us a chance to get points here tonight and we didn't, so we'll have to do it in Nashville." Alex Pietrangelo."That happens on the road. Anything tied after the first period you're in good shape. There was a little bit of shock getting scored on the first shift. Still, the game's out there. Our push back wasn't strong enough today." Ken Hitchcock
Wild Quotes
"It's awesome. That's important to just get that good feeling going. When you can approach every game and feel good about what the outcome's going to be and how we're going to play, that's how you get on these streaks. These streaks are important when the schedule gets tough at the end of the year." Dubnyk said.
"It's a nice feeling [reaching the milestone]. Honestly, I'm hoping for a lot more as my career moves on. But nonetheless, very grateful and honored to one, make the NHL and to play as long as I have and to put up that kind of number is special. There is no way to do it on your own. I've played with some great offensive guys that made me look good on a lot of nights. But like I said, hopefully, there is a lot more ahead because I'd like a bigger number than that." Staal said.
"I think that's 9 out of 10 games that we've gotten points in. I thought that was our best third period of the year… I hope they're starting to believe they're a good team."
"I don't know what else to say about [Dubnyk]. He's been really good. And he does it in a very calm way. It's not like he's flopping all over the place. His positioning is great. He keeps us in when we're not good and he's preventing us from losing when we are good." Bruce Boudreau said.
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