A night after being throttled by the New York Rangers, the Islanders took their frustration out on the Detroit Red Wings in an equally brusk affair with an 7-2 decision.
Brock Nelson had two goals in the win.
Anthony Beauvillier had a goal Islanders’ rout – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“That was the message (coach) Barry [Trotz] stressed this morning,” Nelson said of the response to the loss to the Rangers. “We talked about what went on [Monday] night, what we needed to do better. We kind of had to just flip the page and come out and play again. That was the beauty of today; we got to kind of flip it quick.”
Thomas Greiss made 34 saves to get the win.
The Islanders scored four times in the opening frame.
“Not the start we were looking for,” Red Wings center Dylan Larkin said. “We didn’t help out [Howard] at all. In a building like this where it’s a momentum building, we talked before the game that we were going to have to have a good start, and we didn’t. We didn’t help [Howard] and we left him out to dry.
“Once the snowball got going downhill, it got bigger and bigger. They just kept getting bounces. Tough to explain. We just didn’t show up in the first like we would’ve liked to.”
Filip Hronek and Givani Smith (first NHL goal) scored for the Wings.
“I didn’t want to go too crazy,” Smith said. “It was a shot from outside, I thought [my stick] was a little bit high, so I didn’t want to psych myself out.”
Jordan Eberle, Josh Bailey, Anders Lee, and Nelson scored in the first period.
“We were able to capitalize early,” Bailey said. “I think that was probably the key for us; we wanted to come out with a good start. Coming off a back-to-back, you want to come out hot, and we were able to put a few past them early and kind of ride that.”
Noah Dobson, Anthony Beauvillier and Leo Komarov added markers for the Isles.
“It unraveled. We weren’t good enough,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought there were some guys that were really ready to go, and some guys that weren’t ready to go. You’ve got to compete at a high, high level. We’ve got some guys in some prime spots that have to understand how hard you’ve got to compete every night.”
[WATCH:Â All Red Wings vs. Islanders highlights]
Jimmy Howard got the start but was given the hook after three of the four first period goals. He made just four saves.
“We haven’t been good enough for him,” Larkin said.
Calvin Pickard finished the game and made 14 saves.
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