• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Tavares lifts Isles over 'Canes in OT

Jan 22, 2012 - 6:24 AM Uniondale, NY (Sports Network) - John Tavares was what the Islanders needed on Saturday night.

The All-Star forward netted both New York goals, including the game-winner at 3:58 of the overtime period as the Isles edged the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1 at Nassau Coliseum.

Evgeni Nabokov was excellent in net, stopping 32-of-33 shots for the Islanders, who have won three straight games.

"Getting through the first period, we could have been down by two or three goals, we didn't play very well," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said. "But we regrouped in the intermission and played well the rest of the game."

Jeff Skinner scored for the Hurricanes and Cam Ward played well in goal despite the loss, stopping 38-of-40 shots. Carolina has lost three of its last four.

The deciding moment came when Travis Hamonic fired a shot from the point that was blocked to the right corner. P.A. Parenteau chased down the loose disc and just got a pass off to Tavares before getting crushed into the boards. Taveres, holding the puck in the slot, sent a quick wrist shot on net that was initially handled by Ward, but he failed to control the rebound, knocked the puck into the air and it just trickled over the line.

Carolina opened the scoring at 8:43 of the first period when Bryan Allen fired a long shot from outside the offensive zone that seemed to handcuff Nabokov and he coughed up a big rebound, which was put home by Skinner.

New York tied the game at 7:46 of the second period when Mark Streit ripped a slap shot through traffic from the point that was stopped by Ward, but the rebound caromed out to the slot and Tavares easily fired it into the empty net.

"I thought the guys battled hard and we played well tonight," Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller said.

Game Notes

Tavares extended his career-best point scoring streak to 12 games...The Islanders killed off three Carolina power-play opportunities and have now killed 32-of-33 penalties against (97 percent) over their last 13 games...New York improved to 4-18-2 when yielding the first goal of the game...It was Tavares' fourth career overtime-winner...New York went 0-for-2 with the man advantage...The Islanders will visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday, while the Hurricanes will head home to face the Winnipeg Jets, also on Monday.