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Nabokov, Islanders deny Blue Jackets

Mar 24, 2014 - 12:18 AM Uniondale, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Evgeni Nabokov made 41 saves for his third shutout of the season in the New York Islanders' 2-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.

Nabokov stopped 33 shots over the final two periods to secure the victory for the Islanders, who went 2-2-0 on a four-game homestand. Cal Clutterbuck and Travis Hamonic lit the lamp.

"Your goaltender is obviously your best penalty killer," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "He made some big saves for us. We mismanaged the puck in the neutral zone a few times ... but he was there for us."

Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 30-of-32 shots for the Blue Jackets, who have lost two in a row.

Clutterbuck got the Islanders on the board at the 13:26 mark of the first stanza when he scored from the slot off a broken play

Hamonic lit the lamp on the power play with 51.7 seconds left in the middle frame. He went coast-to-coast before firing a wrist shot past Bobrovsky for a 2-0 lead.

The Blue Jackets went 0-for-6 on the power play Sunday and are 0-for-35 in their past 10 games dating back to March 4.

"It's hard this time of year to get that intensity level up every single night," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "We didn't have it at a high enough level tonight, and we ended up paying for it.

"It's really disappointing. We had an opportunity to help ourselves, but we didn't take that opportunity."

Nabokov backed up that two-goal margin with 17 saves in the game's final segment.

Game Notes

Nabokov recorded the 58th shutout of his career ... Columbus had won four straight against the Islanders ... New York was without forward Michael Grabner (concussion) and defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky (upper body) ... Islanders center Johan Sundstrom picked up his first NHL point with a secondary assist on Clutterbuck's marker.