Recap: Islanders Beat Blues 2-1 in OT

Valtteri Filppula scored the overtime winner 1:37 into the extra frame, as the New York Islanders downed the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
Mathew Barzal set up the goal, luring Jaden Schwartz in close in the neutral zone before threading a cross-ice, blueline-to-blueline feed to Filppula, who ended the game with his 10th goal of the season. With the win, the Islanders sweep the season series with the Blues, pick up their second straight victory and improved to 8-2-0 in their last 10.
"I knew [Ryan] O'Reilly had been out there for a while since the start of OT, so I was going to see if they made a change, or see if we could catch them on a rush," Barzal said. "Fil stepped on in a great spot, he's a smart player obviously in the right spot and a great bury by him."

The win didn't come easy for the Isles, who went up 1-0 early thanks to Jordan Eberle's 200th career goal, but found themselves on their heels for large portions of the second and third periods. Robin Lehner (30 saves) was called upon often, especially in an 18-save second period and in the first half of the third period. The Isles wrestled back some momentum in the latter half of the third period and grinded their way to OT. In overtime, it was all Isles, who put on a clinic according to their coach.
"You win in different ways. Tonight we had to win with goaltending and a good three-on-three performance," Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "In OT, it was a clinic in terms of three-on-three and long-change management. We did a great job and a great pass from Barzy to Fil."

EBERLE SCORES 200TH CAREER GOAL:

Jordan Eberle hit a career milestone on Tuesday, as he potted his 200th career goal. It came via backhander, as Eberle scooped up and roofed a loose puck after Anders Lee crashed the net at 8:43.The goal was Eberle's 35th as an Islander, with the other 165 coming during his seven seasons in Edmonton. After the game he said the more important stat was the two points the Islanders banked.
"There's obviously milestones, but when you're a kid, you're not thinking about 200 goals, you're thinking about winning the Stanley Cup," Eberle said. The key to being success is being consistent and always trying to build your game… You always want to build with it."
While Eberle played it cool, Trotz made a point to bring it up in his postgame press conference.
"Congrats to Jordan Eberle on his 200th tonight," Trotz said. "Best league in the world. That's hard to do."

Eberle has been productive for the Islanders since returning to the lineup on Jan. 5 after missing four games with an upper-body injury. Trotz said he hoped Eberle was able to use his time getting healthy as a reset, after recording 17 points (7G, 10A) in his first 35 games, adding that Eberle has been a "second-half guy" in the past.
So far, Eberle has four points (3G, 1A) in six games since returning though Eberle said he felt his game turn a corner during the Islanders Western Conference road trip before Christmas.
"No one in this league can do anything individually and our line was struggling and I thought on the road trip we really started to find each other and play as a unit and that just helps all of us," Eberle said. "All three of us started to get going. The biggest thing is just to continue to play that way and keep it going."

LEHNER DELIVERS AGAIN:

Robin Lehner was solid in net for the Islanders on Tuesday, stopping 30 shots for his ninth win in 10 games. Lehner was especially good in the second period, making all 18 saves, including seven on a pair of power plays.
It took a one-timer from David Perron - on an NHL-leading 12-game point streak - to beat Lehner.
With the win, Lehner improves to 13-7-3 with a league-leading 2.16 goals-against average, a .928 save percentage and two shutouts.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders take on the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at NYCB Live. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.