On Long Island, the Islanders extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-2 decision over the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
Josh Bailey had a goal and two points on the night.
“No matter what happens, I think hockey can be a funny game sometimes,” Bailey said. “Those things are going to happen. You find a way to rebound and bounce back, and we did that.”
Derick Brassard, Anders Lee, and Scott Mayfield also scored for the Isles.
“It’s kind of been hard a little bit,” Brassard said. “I think we had like eight power plays in nine games … like our unit, I think we haven’t touched the ice in like four games. It’s nice to go out there and try and get a feel for the puck, and sometimes you get your confidence by going there, and I think it’s been four games we haven’t had the chance to go.
“But 5-on-5, this League is hard. You try and find some chemistry with your teammates, try to get a feel for everyone, take those couple of games to kind of try and set myself in a role here. … But I felt really comfortable tonight.”
The Isles improved to 6-3-0.
“I liked our effort; it was probably one of our more complete games start to finish against a very good team,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “I liked that we came out and set the tone. We were sort of dogs on a bone right off the bat.”
Michael Grabner and Conor Garland had the Coyotes’ strikes.
“A little humble pie for the team,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “I thought some guys were, whether it was sluggish or whatever, you’ve got to play with your nose over the puck, not on your heels. I thought we were on our heels a little bit, so that’s what happens.”
[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Islanders highlights]
Darcy Kuemper made 18 saves in an uncharacteristic loose game.
“We need to figure out what to do against teams that play like that,” Grabner said. “heir ‘D’ were really active going down, playing low, their wingers and centers switching up top. We kind of got a little bit in between like, ‘Who’s taking who?’ and they got some extended zone time through that stuff. We know that not everyone plays like that obviously, but when we play teams like that, we’ve got to figure it out and talk a little more in our ‘D’ zone and stop these cycles and stuff quicker.”
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