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Jets welcome Islanders to Winnipeg

Feb 14, 2012 - 4:08 PM (Sports Network) - Neither the Winnipeg Jets or New York Islanders were able to carry their momentum through the weekend.

With both clubs needing all the points they can get to stay in the playoff hunt, the Jets and Isles do battle this evening looking to bounce back from losses.

Winnipeg finds itself four points out of the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference, while New York sits further back at eight off the pace for the final postseason seed. Both clubs put forth disappointing efforts over the weekend and hope to rebound tonight.

For the Jets, they scored two late goals on Thursday versus the Capitals to rally for a tie before winning the game in overtime. That was the second straight victory for Winnipeg, but it failed to keep pace with Pittsburgh on Saturday in an 8-5 defeat.

The Jets got the start they wanted by getting first-period goals from Kyle Wellwood and Alexander Burmistrov, but the Penguins battled back to tie the game before period's end and notched three goals in both the second and third frames.

Tim Stapleton, Dustin Byfuglien and Bryan Little all had a goal and an assist, while Ondrej Pavelec stopped 31 of the 39 shots fired his way.

Even a five-goal outburst couldn't please Jets head coach Claude Noel.

"I thought it was poor," said Noel. "We didn't win battles. Was there anything good out of that game?"

In their first season in Winnipeg after relocating from Atlanta, the Jets will enjoy a stretch of nine of 10 at home. That includes an eight-game homestand following Thursday's road test in Minnesota. Winnipeg is 16-8-2 at home this year and 10-17-4 on the road.

The Islanders are the first to visit over that span after getting bested 4-1 at home by the Panthers on Sunday. That defeat came one day after New York recorded a 2-1 overtime triumph over Los Angeles as the Isles dropped two of three on their homestand.

Frans Nielsen scored in the first for New York, but Florida answered in the frame and then scored three times in the middle stanza.

Evgeni Nabokov was charged in the setback with four goals on 15 shots through two periods. Al Montoya finished the game by making four saves.

"You give up two faceoff goals and a power-play goal and you're not going to win too many games," said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano. "We had some chances we didn't bury. I don't think we executed very well at all in the first period. We were chasing them the whole time in the second.

The Jets franchise has won five of its past seven versus the Islanders, with the clubs splitting a pair of meetings so far this season. Winnipeg notched a 3-0 win in New York on Nov. 3, but dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the visiting Islanders on Dec. 20.