Forum allgemein » NEW YORK (AP) — The first winter storm of the season

had Anthony Beauvillier excited about facing the New York Islanders‘ cross-town rival William Nylander Jersey , and he broke out of a season-long scoring slump in a big way.Beauvillier had three goals and an assist, and the Islanders held off the Rangers 7-5 on Thursday night to keep up their recent mastery in the series.“I was pretty pumped before the game,” the Quebec native said. “It was snowing outside, felt like Christmas. And playing the Rangers is always fun. It feels good to get the win.”Beauvillier, who had one goal in 16 games this season, got his first career hat trick and first four-point game. The Islanders, second in the Metropolitan Division, won for the seventh time in 10 games and remained perfect in seven games against division teams this season.“It’s always tough mentally,” he said of his struggles. “If you don’t play good and the team’s losing it’s harder Womens Zach Hyman Jersey , but the team’s been winning and the locker room is great.”Leo Komarov had a goal and an assist, and Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and Cal Clutterbuck also scored as the Islanders beat the Rangers for the 12th time in 13 meetings since the start of 2015-16 season. Valtteri Filppula had three assists, Nick Leddy added two, and Thomas Greiss stopped 36 shots.Chris Kreider had two goals and Fredrik Claesson and Filip Chytil also scored for the Rangers, who were 6-0-1 in their last seven. Henrik Lundqvist gave up five goals on 17 shots through the first two periods. Alexandar Georgiev replaced him to start the third and had five saves.“They had three tap-ins when they were standing next to a guy,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “We didn’t pick sticks up. … They scored way too easily.”Komarov scored midway through the third to give the Islanders a 6-3 lead after trailing 2-0 less than six minutes into the game.Kreider’s second power-play goal of the night with 6:47 left pulled the Rangers back within two, and Chytil scored with 2 1/2 minutes remaining to make it 6-5.The Rangers pulled Georgiev for an extra skater with a little more than two minutes remaining but couldn’t get the equalizer. Clutterbuck sealed the win with an empty-netter with 21 seconds left.“These division games are huge,” Lee said. “Anytime we can get two and keep them to zero is huge.”Beauvillier put the Islanders ahead 3-2 with his second of the night when he skated in on a breakaway and beat Lundqvist at 2:24 of the second period.However Bo Horvat Jersey , the Rangers tied it with a short-handed goal 57 seconds later as Hayes beat Greiss from the left circle with his fourth. It was the first short-handed goal allowed by the Islanders this season.Beauvillier put the Islanders back ahead for good when he deflected Johnny Boychuk’s shot past Lundqvist on a power play at 5:13.The Islanders, 2 for 24 on the power play in their previous six games, got their second of the night with the man advantage. Lee deflected Leddy’s point shot down past Lundqvist for his sixth with just under six minutes left in the middle period to push the lead to 5-3.NOTES: Kreider played in his 400th regular season game. … Rangers F Vladislav Namestnikov played in his 300th game. … The Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad had an assist on Kreider’s goal, giving him 15 points (eight assists) in his last 15 games. … Islanders placed forwards Casey Cizikas and Andrew Ladd on IR retroactive to Tuesday. F Matt Martin, who missed the previous five games due to an upper-body injury, was placed on IR retroactive to Nov. 1. … Beauvillier now has six goals and six assists in seven career games against the Rangers. … Filppula has 17 assists and 21 points in 21 games against the Rangers. … Nelson has eight goals and 12 points in his last 12 games.UP NEXTRangers: Host Florida on Saturday night.Ha Islanders: Host Dallas on Sunday. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Nashville Predators are back at work feeling a little healthier after an eight-day break for their bye and ready to put together all the pieces for the stretch run to the postseason.The Predators practiced Thursday before catching a plane to Florida for a game Friday night against the Panthers to kick off the final 30 games. They practiced without forward Austin Watson who was suspended Tuesday indefinitely without pay as part of the NHL’s substance abuse program.Center Kyle Turris has been on injured reserve since Jan. 1, but the Predators find themselves possibly as healthy as they’ve been in a couple months.“The guys that were dinged up, it gives them a chance to even recuperate more and for their bodies to catch up Youth Brandon Sutter Jersey ,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “The guys that are still out of the lineup, that’s days that are spent where we’re not playing games and where they might be getting close to return.”The defending Presidents Trophy winners returned to work Thursday with 64 points, two back of Winnipeg in the Central Division with the Jets having two games in hand over Nashville. The Predators, who topped the overall league standings early this season, currently are fifth overall with three Western Conference teams ahead of them in Calgary (71), Winnipeg and San Jose (65).All-Star goalie Pekka Rinne sees a need to build momentum by being consistent.“Obviously, now it’s the clutch time of the season, and you want to be playing well,” Rinne said. “I feel like those are the things that we’ve had at times Brendan Leipsic Jersey Kids , and then we’ve lost them at times. So I think those are the areas that we got to focus on and try to build that confidence that we had in the beginning of the season.Nashville knows one area that should be easy to make a big jump: the man advantage. The Predators went into their bye week having failed to score in 25 straight power plays and haven’t scored a power-play goal since going 1 of 4 with the man advantage on Jan. 9 in a 4-3 win at Chicago. They rank 29th in the NHL converting just 13.1 percent after being 12th in the league last season with a 21.3 percent success rate.Having key pieces back should help that production.Center Ryan Johansen, who missed two of the final three games before the All-Star Game because of a suspension for high-sticking, is on target for his best scoring season in Nashville with a team-high 43 points. Forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg also missed time with injuries and Forsberg has seven points in nine games back while Arvidsson has 11 points in 12 games since returning from a broken thumb .Defenseman P.K. Subban, another piece of the power-play, has played only 33 games because of his own injury that kept him out until Dec. 27.Laviolette said they work on the power play as much as possible at every practice. He liked what he saw in a 2-1 win in Vegas just before the break.Putting a unit back together I thought that Johansen unit with Forsberg and Arvidsson they really moved it around,” Laviolette said. “They could’ve scored. They hit the post once or twice, a couple more rolled through the crease. There was a lot to like about it, and now we need to find some results with it.”The schedule also could help. The Predators will play nine games in Nashville during February after just four in January. Subban, whose digital series debuted during the break along with his own TV special after the All-Star Skills competition last week http://www.canucksshoponline.com/authentic-alex-burmistrov-jersey , said he was ready to get back to his old job.“We want to start the second half the right way just like everybody else does,” Subban said. “The standings are close pretty much in every division, every conference. I think how guys start definitely after the break is definitely going to be a big difference.”