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Tavares, Islanders top Hurricanes

Feb 1, 2012 - 5:06 AM Raleigh, NC (Sports Network) - John Tavares scored two goals, including the game-winner in the third period en route to a four-point night as the New York Islanders skated past the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2, at RBC Center.

Matt Moulson finished with a goal and two assists, while P.A. Parenteau and Kyle Okposo had a goal and an assist apiece for the Islanders, who stopped a two-game skid. Kevin Poulin made 21 saves in the victory.

Brandon Sutter and Tim Brent lit the lamp and Cam Ward made 21 saves in defeat for the Hurricanes, who had their three-game home winning streak halted.

The deciding goal came at 7:36 of the third period when the Islanders took advantage of a turnover by Ward.

The Hurricanes' netminder came out to play a dump-in, but flubbed his attempt to send the puck around the boards and Moulson jumped on it and found Tavares, who slammed it home from the slot to put the Isles up 3-2.

"He's been playing extremely well, he's been doing a lot of good things and he's tough to stop," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said of Tavares.

Carolina pulled Ward with less than two minutes to play and got some good pressure on net, but the Islanders eventually chipped the puck out of the zone and Okposo and Tavares added empty-netters one minute apart in the closing stages of the game to seal the win.

New York opened the scoring on the power play at 5:49 of the first period. Mark Streit collected the puck in the defensive zone and sent it to Tavares on the left wing. Tavares gained the blue line and moved down to the circle before sending a centering pass to Parenteau, who snapped a quick wrister past Ward.

The Islanders extended their lead to 2-0 with another power-play goal at 16:19 of the second stanza when they won a key offensive zone faceoff. The puck made its way back to Streit at the right point. Streit let a slap shot go that was partially blocked and Moulson found it in the slot and slid it past Ward.

Carolina struck for two third period goals to tie the game at two.

The first goal came at 3:15 of the frame when Tim Gleason ripped a shot from the right point that was blocked and Sutter collected it in the slot before lifting a backhander past the blocker side of Poulin.

The Hurricanes' next goal came with the man advantage at 6:55 after Brent got a nice cross-ice feed from Jeff Skinner and ripped a shot on net that was stopped by Poulin, but he lost the puck amid a scramble in front and it wound up in the net.

"We didn't get off to the start we wanted, but we were still in the game," Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller said. "We had a tough second period, but came out hard in the third."

Game Notes

New York has now won all three meetings between the teams this season...The Islanders improved to 16-3-3 when scoring the first goal...Carolina finished 1-for-2 with the man advantage, while the Islanders converted two of their four power play opportunities...The Hurricanes will visit the Boston Bruins on Thursday, while the Islanders will play the Senators in Ottawa on Friday.