UNIONDALE, New York: The New York Islanders were merely content with a lopsided victory. The Phoenix Coyotes were flat-out humiliated.
With production from all four lines, the Islanders built a big lead and carried it to a 6-1 win over the Coyotes yesterday.
While New York coach Jack Capuano was pleased with his team’s performance, he tempered his remarks and didn’t heap too much praise on his club.
“We got some bounces. Let’s not kid ourselves,” Capuano said.
“The score didn’t indicate the way the game was.”
John Tavares scored his first two goals of the season and defenceman Matt Donovan added the first of his NHL career in a rare meeting between the Islanders and Coyotes. Phoenix hadn’t visited Long Island since December 2010.
Peter Regin and Tavares scored in the first period for the Islanders (2-0-1), and Donovan, Tavares and Colin McDonald connected in the second against beleaguered goalie Mike Smith to turn it into a rout. Frans Nielsen earned the second of his three assists on the night when McDonald made it 5-1 with 2:36 left in the second.
“You get embarrassed as a professional athlete. It’s unacceptable,” Coyotes captain Shane Doan said. “There has to be accountability in our room. They have a really good team that moves the puck well, and we let them do it all night.”
Evgeni Nabokov was the beneficiary of all the offense and made 33 saves for the win. The 38-year-old goalie has started all three games for the Islanders.
Josh Bailey had a goal and two assists, and Michael Grabner had three assists for New York, which was outshot 34-28. Regin added an assist.
“It was just a full-team effort,” forward Kyle Okposo said. “We talked about the third period. We wanted to come out and play better and not give them anything. I thought we did a pretty good job.”
Martin Hanzal gave the Coyotes (1-2) a brief spark when his first of the season made it 3-1. Smith stopped only 15 shots and was replaced at the start of the third period by Thomas Greiss, who made his Phoenix debut.Bailey made it 6-1 against Greiss, off assists from Nielsen and Grabner, with 7:41 left.
“It’s completely unacceptable,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. “We have a lot of work to do as a team. We just weren’t good enough.” For the second straight game, the Islanders jumped out to a 2-0 lead and tried to protect it. They were unsuccessful in their home opener on Saturday when they allowed Columbus to get even in the third period and beat them in a shootout. This time, the Islanders pushed their edge to 3-0 with their second power-play goal, but the Coyotes responded 43 seconds later with Hanzal’s goal to cut the deficit back to two. Agencies
