TAVAR-YES!
John’s pair gives Weight first win
Doug Weight hadn’t even been the Islanders’ interim head coach for one full game, but still he was wondering how the l ast- place team would blow another lead.
He’d watched his team miss t wo breakaway opportunities. He’d seen Jason Chimera strike the post. He’d groaned along with the Barclays Center crowd after five failed power plays, unnerved that the Islanders’ 16-5 shot advantage in the second period couldn’t extend their lead.
“I was trying not to think the worst going into the third, but you’re just waiting for something to happen,” Weight said. “You’re just waiting to get those penalties against you. You’re waiting for that ball to drop.”
Even before the f irst puck dropped Thursday night, Weight was nervous, far more than he expected he’d be before his first game in charge.
But just like Jack Capuano, Weight had John Tavares there to settle his nerves. As usual, the captain made everything all better.
Tavares was his cus- t omary bril l i ant s el f against the Stars, scoring two goals — including a game- sealing, shorthanded effort late in the third period — to lead the Islanders to a 3-0 win at Barclays Center.
Tavares, who leads the team with 18 goals, now has seven goals in the past four games, helping the Islanders (18-17-8) begin to turn around their season with three wins during that span.
“It’s nice to have him on our bench,” Weight said. “Just his work ethic, his skill, he had it on a string, it was something special from the first goal on. … He’s just a great leader and I feel like these guys are following him and want to follow him.”
Tavares got the best of Kari Lehtonen (33 saves) for the game’s first goal after a beautiful move through two defenders, giving the Islanders the lead with 6:29 left in the first period.
Yet despite dominant play, the Islanders couldn’t stretch their lead — extending their power play drought to 21 straight failures after being unable to convert on s even chances Thursday — and gave Dallas (19-20-8) a late power play, but Tavares made up for an earlier breakaway miss by converting the f irst shorthanded goal of his career, with 3:06 left in the third period to put the Islanders up 2-0.
Calvin De Haan added a long-distance, empty-net goal with four seconds left in the first game of the Isles’ six-game homestand.
“It’s a good response from the guys after a pretty emotional day-and-a half,” Tavares said.