Power-play goals from Tatar, Nyquist lead Red Wings past Islanders
Outshot, the Detroit Red Wings did the most with what they got.
Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist scored power-play goals Saturday and the Red Wings beat the New York Islanders 4-1.
The Red Wings won for the seventh time in eight games.
Backup goalie Petr Mrazek responded after giving up five goals in a loss at Tampa Bay on Thursday. Detroit overcame five penalties and was outshot by the Islanders 23-19.
Mrazek once again subbed for Jimmy Howard, who's been out with a groin injury since Jan. 10.
"I feel great," Mrazek said. "Tried to bounce back after the game in Tampa. I tried to stay positive and be focused."
Tatar got his 22nd goal, making it 1-0 about 5 minutes into the game. Nyquist scored his 20th, closing the scoring with under seven minutes left.
"We've got a few things we need to work on," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said of his penalty-kill unit. "I didn't see the grit and determination from some guys that you need."
"We had three guys today that I don't even know if they played," he said.
The Red Wings overcame two second-period penalties and took a 2-0 lead on Brendan Smith's one-timer with 47 seconds remaining in the period.
Detroit's Jonathan Ericcson scored in the third period. Lubomir Visnovsky scored for the Islanders on a power play.
The Red Wings worked around two penalties in the second period before Visnovsky beat goaltender Chad Johnson early in the third, making it 2-1 just 10 seconds into an Islanders power play.
"The specialty teams hurt us today," Islanders center John Tavares said. "It's kind of hurt us all season. We got a power-play goal but we didn't create much momentum off of it. They capitalized on theirs."
The Islanders had won five straight games in Detroit dating to the 2002-03 season.
NOTES: Detroit C Pavel Datsyuk played his 863rd career game with the Red Wings, surpassing Ted Lindsay for 12th-most in franchise history. ... Visnovsky was activated from the injured reserve list. He missed nine games with an upper-body injury. . Red Wings D Brian Lashoff, placed on waivers Friday, was assigned to Grand Rapids.
