National Hockey League
NY Islanders 6, Nashville 2
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, October 28, 2017
Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Referees: Trevor Hanson, Jean Hebert
Linesmen: Derek Amell, Darren Gibbs
Attendance: 17113

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- John Tavares and New York's struggling power play both scored hat tricks in the Islanders' 6-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.

New York was ranked last in the NHL with a 6.1 percent success rate with two goals in 33 power plays entering the game, but the Islanders (6-4-1) went 3 for 5 on the man advantage against the defending Western Conference champion.

"Everybody on the PP contributed," New York coach Doug Weight said. "That was big for us and it was nice to see. It seemed like we had two really good units."

Jordan Eberle scored his first two goals of the season, including a power-play goal that got the Islanders going early in the first period.

"It's been a very sore spot of our team to this season and it was nice to get that going tonight," Eberle said. "We worked on it a lot yesterday and it's huge anytime you can get that, especially on the road."

New York led 3-1 when Tavares scored three straight goals in the third period for the natural hat trick. One of his goals was initially credited to Anders Lee before a scoring change was made late in the game.

"Some of those shots finally went in for us," Tavares said of the power play. "We were a little bit more confident. We didn't make too many soft plays out there."

Tavares and Ryan Pulock also scored power-play goals for the Islanders (6-4-1), who have won four of their last six games.

Filip Forsberg and Craig Smith scored for the Predators (5-4-2), who took eight penalties after starting the night with an NHL-high 55.

New York's Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves, improving his career record to 14-3-4 against Nashville.

Nashville backup goalie Juuse Saros (0-3-0) allowed six goals on 23 shots.

"I think when you get behind like that the air goes out of the bench," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "There were definitely things we could have done better in front of (Saros). There were some redirect goals, some funny bounces there in the third period. There's not much he could do on those."

The Islanders' struggling power play got a much-needed goal when Eberle's wrist shot dribbled past Saros, who stopped it initially for a 1-0 lead at 4:21 of the first period while Ryan Johansen was in the penalty box for tripping.

It was Eberle's first goal of the season after scoring 20 with Edmonton last season.

Forsberg tied the score at 1 when he lifted a wrist shot into the right corner of the net over a sprawling Halak at 3:55 of the second period.

Moments earlier, Halak made a skate save on Kevin Fiala and Forsberg scooped up the rebound and skated around Halak in the crease for his team-high eighth goal of the season.

Forsberg scored 31 goals last year and a career-high 33 in 2015-16.

The Islanders' revitalized power play struck again when Pulock fired a one-timer through traffic from inside the center of the blue line, giving New York a 2-1 lead at 9:49 of the second period.

Pulock's blast found the left side of the net six seconds after Anthony Bitetto was sent to the box for hooking.

Eberle scored again with 30 seconds left in the second period when his wrist shot trickled past Saros, increasing the Islanders' lead to 3-1.

Tavares quickly made it 4-1 New York when the Islanders captain poked home a shot from the right side of the crease 12 seconds into the third period, quieting the Bridgestone Arena crowd.

Saros got some bad luck on the next goal when Tavares' close range shot bounced off the skates of Yannick Weber and Calle Jarnkrok before ricocheting into the net, giving New York a commanding 5-1 lead at 2:52 of the third period.

The Islanders scored their third power-play goal when Tavares' wrist shot found the top left corner of the net, extending New York's lead to 6-1 at 7:26 of the third period while Mikka Salomaki was in the box for tripping.

Smith's scored on the power play when his wrister beat Halak glove-side, narrowing the deficit to 6-2 at 13:57 of the third period.

NOTES: The Predators played their second game in as many nights after winning 2-1 at Chicago on Friday as Pekka Rinne made 43 saves. ... The Islanders scratched C Alan Quine, D Thomas Hickey and D Scott Mayfield. ... Nashville starts a four-game road trip at San Jose on Wednesday. ... New York hosts Vegas on Monday in its first game against the expansion team that has won eight of its first nine games. ... Nashville fell to 3-1-1 at home and New York improved to 3-4-0 on the road.
Top Game Performances
 
NY Islanders   Nashville
John Tavares 3 Points Mattias Ekholm 2
John Tavares 3 Goals Filip Forsberg 1
Anthony Beauvillier 2 Assists Mattias Ekholm 2
John Tavares 1 Power Play Goals Craig Smith 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Jaroslav Halak .933 Save Percentage Juuse Saros .739
Jaroslav Halak 28 Saves Juuse Saros 17
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
NY Islanders 23 6 3-5 3-4 14 22
Nashville 30 2 1-4 2-5 16 34
Upcoming Games
  • Nashville will play their next game on the road against San Jose. The Predators have a W/L % of .400 after a win and .500 after a loss.
  • NY Islanders will play their next game at home against Vegas. The Islanders have a W/L % of .333 after a win and .800 after a loss.