Islanders score three in third period against Blues, win sixth straight

ST. LOUIS -- The New York Islanders scored three goals in the third period and rallied for their sixth straight win, 4-3 against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Jordan Eberle and Johnny Boychuk scored goals 11 seconds apart in the third period. Eberle tied the game 2-2 at 8:27 and Boychuk scored at 8:38 on consecutive shots, New York's 10th and 11th of the game.
"It all started with a not very good first 40," Islanders captain Anders Lee said. "We weren't very good, I wasn't very good, but Matt Martin] had a big goal, kept us in it, only down a goal going into the third period, a position that when you're having a tough night, you want to be in only down one.
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"We kind of as a group just said, 'Let's go out and have a good 20 minutes and figure it out.' [Eberle] with the fire there a little bit, Johnny responded right away and we were able to make this a comeback."
Lee had a goal and an assist, Martin scored, and Robin Lehner made 29 saves to win his seventh straight game for New York (23-13-4). Casey Cizikas had two assists.

"Tonight we won with good goaltending," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "We won with playing one period, and we were led by the Cizikas line and when it came down to crunch time, our leaders stepped up. Guys like Lee, Leo [Komarov], and they stepped up in a big way. It's good."
The Islanders have outscored their opponents 22-9 during their season-high win streak.
Brayden Schenn, Zach Sanford and Ryan O'Reilly scored, and Jake Allen made 10 saves while tying his personal NHL-high 14th straight start for St. Louis (16-19-4), which went 0-for-5 on the power play and 2-3-0 on a five-game homestand.
"Played a pretty good game all-around," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Gave up 14 shots, [eight] shots after two periods. But [we've] got to find a way to win it."
Allen took onus for the loss. The Islanders scored four goals on their final eight shots.
"I've got to be better than that in the third period for this team," Allen said. "I lost it for them."
Schenn's first goal in 10 games gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 4:11 of the first period.

Sanford, recalled from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Friday, made it 2-0 at 16:37 of the first.
Martin made it 2-1 off a pass from behind the net by Cizikas at 2:25 of the second period.

Vladimir Tarasenko had an apparent goal waved off at 11:22 of the third, but it was ruled kicked in.
Lee then made it 4-2 at 15:04 when he scored on his own rebound.
"We said we've been so bad for two periods, let's play the right way for one period and pull on the rope together and see what happens," Trotz said. "And they did. They found a way to win and that says a lot about the group."
O'Reilly scored with 1:33 remaining in the third with Allen on the bench for the 4-3 final.

They said it

"Oh yes, it was a kick. Look at Tarasenko, he knew it right away." -- Islanders goalie Robin Lehner on the Blues goal that was waved off
"It's huge. On a night where it doesn't seem like anything's going well, we're all kind of feeling it, we're not playing well, we're not making the right decisions. We get a big goal from [Eberle], a great screen from [Martin] and a great shot from [Boychuk]." -- Islanders captain Anders Lee on their two goals in 11 seconds
"A couple breaks, breakdowns defensively, simple as that. They had what, 13-14 shots, but they had a lot of good chances. Just got to stay tight defensively the whole game." -- Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo

Need to know

New York is 5-1-1 in its past seven games against St. Louis. … The 14 shots on goal were a season-low for the Islanders; they had 19 on Nov. 24 against the Carolina Hurricanes and Dec. 8 against the Detroit Red Wings. ... Islanders center Mathew Barzal's his six-game point streak ended. ... New York defenseman Devon Toews got his first NHL assist. The Islanders are 6-0-0 since he made his debut on Dec. 23. … O'Reilly extended his point streak to five games (three goals, three assists). ... Blues forward David Perron has a six-game point streak (two goals, seven assists).

What's next

Islanders: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (Nassau Coliseum; 7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Blues: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN1, SNE, SNP, NBCSP, FS-MW, NHL.TV)