In Elmont, the New York Is;Islanders defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 5-2, on Friday night. For Isles coach Barry Trotz, it was his 900th career coaching win.
Josh Bailey hit for a double in the New York win.
“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.”
Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves in the Isles win.
“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.”
Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor were the Jets strikers.
“That’s the bread and butter of their game, they play a very structured game,” Winnipeg’s 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.”
New York improved to 23-24-8.
“It’s cliche and simple and it’s day by day, game by game, and who knows what happens,” the Isles’ Brock Nelson (goal) 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.”
Anders Lee also scored for the Islanders.
The Jets dropped to 26-23-10.
Cal Clutterbuck hit an empty-net goal for the 5-2 final.
“It seems like he’s had so many of those milestones over the past few years,” the Islanders’ 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.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves in the Jets loss.
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