Quick start sparks Islanders past Blues

ST. LOUIS -- The New York Islanders heard coach Doug Weight's message loud and clear.
One night after saying his team needed "maybe some heart, some work ethic," the Islanders responded accordingly Saturday to Weight's words and didn't waste any time in doing so.

WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Blues highlights]
New York scored three goals in the first period, and Thomas Greiss made 35 saves in a 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center.
Tavares, Casey Cizikas and Jordan Eberle scored in the first for New York (9-6-2), which took a 3-0 lead on 12 shots. The Islanders had 14 shots in a 5-0 loss at the Dallas Stars on Friday.
"I think they always resonate, but certainly I think as players, we know we're the ones that go out on the ice and obviously have to do the job and execute the system and the framework that they want us to play with," said Islanders captain John Tavares, who got the scoring started at 3:21. "We weren't really close to that [Friday] night, so we just wanted to get out there and be a lot more competitive like we know we can be. And when we play like that, we know we can play with anyone in the League, so there's a lot of belief and experience and character in the room.
"Guys just competed hard. It's what this league is. There's 82 games."
Anders Lee had a goal and assist, and Joshua Ho-Sang scored for the Islanders after being an emergency call-up from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League earlier Saturday.

Weight was looking for a spark, and if calling out his players was a way to get the proper response, then mission accomplished.
"You always envision ... it's easy hindsight right, yeah it's exactly what we were going to do, get the 3-0 lead on the road against St. Louis," Weight said with a grin. "No, it's the way we did it. We took advantage of some plays, but we got pucks in, we made their [defensemen] turn and we were aggressive. We were skating.
"... It's just that extra work ethic and the tenacity that we were lacking. That was kind of the staple to what we wanted as an effort, and the chorus was exactly that on the bench, so that was nice to see."
The Blues (13-4-1), who came in 9-1-1 in the past 11 games, got goals from Brayden Schenn and Scottie Upshall. Jake Allen made 14 saves on 18 shots before being replaced by Carter Hutton, who made 10 saves.
"That's three games in a row now," Blues coach Mike Yeo said of the Blues' inefficiency in the first period. "We got away with it for two, so we've been playing with fire and obviously, didn't tonight.
"It starts to happen when you start to feel pretty good about yourself. You start to remember the reasons why you were having success and our start tonight, you look at our urgency with the puck and our urgency to defend and obviously just giving them easy goals."
Tavares scored his 13th of the season after outworking Colton Parayko behind the net for a 1-0 lead.
Cizikas made it 2-0 at 10:07 after Greiss made a save on Paul Stastny at one end, and Cizikas followed up Nick Leddy's shot for a rebound goal.

Eberle made it 3-0 after Greiss again made a save on Stastny at one end, and Eberle converted off a 2-on-1 with Andrew Ladd at 13:18.
Ho-Sang made it 4-0 on a shot through traffic that chased Allen at 3:35 of the second.
Schenn's fifth of the season made it 4-1 on a wrist shot from the right circle at 11:31 of the second.
Upshall scored at 6:41 of the third to make it 4-2, but Lee restored New York's three-goal lead at 15:33.

Goal of the game

Eberle's goal at 13:18 of the first period.

Save of the game

Greiss' save against Stastny at 9:52 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Tavares' goal at 3:21 of the first period.

They said it

"It's a strong home team and I knew they were going to push hard and play a strong game, so we were ready for that and expected that and happy to get us a win here." -- Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss
"They came out hard, they made some good plays. I think scoring in the first five minutes gave them some energy, some life. We would have liked a better start tonight." -- Blues center Brayden Schenn

Need to know

It was the first time the Islanders have won in regulation at St. Louis since Dec. 6, 2005. … Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech, who missed the past four games because of an upper-body injury, returned and replaced Ryan Pulock. … Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier, who sustained a lower-body injury Friday, is day-to-day. ... Blues left wing Vladimir Sobotka played his 400th NHL game.

What's next

Islanders: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Blues:At the Calgary Flames on Monday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-MW, NHL.TV)