Islanders score eight in victory against Red Wings

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The New York Islanders scored four goals in the first period in an 8-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Nassau Coliseum on Tuesday.

Brock Nelson scored twice and was one of seven players who had a multipoint game for New York (28-13-4), which was coming off a 6-2 loss at the New York Rangers on Monday and won for the first time in three games (1-1-1). Thomas Greiss made 34 saves.
"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."
***[WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Islanders highlights]*
Jimmy Howard was pulled at 7:56 of the first period after allowing three goals on seven shots for Detroit (12-32-3), which has lost two in a row. Calvin Pickard made 14 saves in relief.
"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."
Jordan Eberle gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead with a backhand shot after a pass from Mathew Barzal at 3:23. It was his sixth goal of the season, third in four games.
Josh Bailey scored on the rebound of Michael Dal Colle's shot for his first goal in 16 games to make it 2-0 at 3:59.
"It always feels good; I think you're going to have your lulls throughout the course of a season," said Bailey, who hadn't scored since Dec. 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. "I think we all go through stuff like that. You try and maintain a certain level of play. Fortunately, tonight, I got a good bounce."

Nelson made it 3-0 at 7:56 with a one-timer from the right face-off circle after a turnover by Red Wings defenseman Mike Green behind the Detroit net.
Howard was pulled after Nelson's goal. He is 2-16-1 with a 4.26 goals-against average and .876 save percentage in 19 games this season.
"We haven't been good enough for him," Larkin said.
Filip Hronek scored from the left point to make it 3-1 at 11:45.
Anders Lee gave the Islanders a 4-1 lead at 18:30. Eberle had an assist for his 500th NHL point.
New York hadn't scored four goals in a period since a 6-3 win against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 28, 2018.
"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."
Nelson scored his second of the game at 1:59 of the second period on a breakaway after leaving the penalty box to make it 5-1.
Noah Dobson scored his first NHL goal to give the Islanders a 6-1 lead 41 seconds later when his shot deflected off defenseman Alex Biega at 2:40.
"Obviously, it wasn't how you drew it up, but we'll take it for sure," said Dobson, who turned 20 on Jan. 7 and was playing his 18th NHL game.

Anthony Beauvillier redirected Ryan Pulock's shot at 5:12 of the third period to make it 7-1, and Leo Komarov scored his first of the season at 9:17 to give New York an 8-1 lead.
Givani Smith scored his first NHL goal on a redirection with six minutes left for the 8-2 final.
"I didn't want to go too crazy," the 21-year-old forward 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."

They said it

"It unraveled. We weren't good enough. 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." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill
"Obviously, any loss, the next game's really important, especially when you don't really have your best effort. It's important you get back on track. I think it helps having that back-to-back; we didn't have to think about [a 6-2 loss to the Rangers on Monday] too long. We could get over it and be prepared for today. We did a good job of that." -- Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock

Need to know

Green was minus-4 in 19:11. ... Pulock had two assists and was plus-4. ... It was Beauvillier's first goal in 14 games (Dec. 14 against Buffalo Sabres).

What's next

Red Wings: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, FS-D, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)
Islanders: Host the New York Rangers on Thursday (Nassau Coliseum; 7 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG 2, NHL.TV)