Tavares’ tiebreaker finishes hat trick

NEW YORK — John Tavares completed his hat trick with a tiebreaking goal in the third period, lifting the New York Islanders over the winless Arizona Coyotes 5-3 on Tuesday night.

The Islanders won their third straight and improved to 5-3-1. Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves for New York.

Adam Pelech had three assists for the Islanders, and fellow defenseman Scott Mayfield cemented the win with his first goal of the season at 17:03.

The Coyotes — starting a five-game road trip — fell to 0-8-1 under new coach Rick Tocchet.

Tavares’ seventh career three-goal game came on a night when he also moved past Islanders forward Bob Bourne into seventh place on the career franchise goals list. The 27-year-old Tavares has six goals this season and 241 career tallies. Bourne had 238 goals with the Islanders from 1974-86.

Brock Nelson put the Islanders ahead 3-2 early in the third on the power play, but Arizona’s Nick Cousins tied it at 8:57 with a longrange shot that eluded Halak.

Nelson’s fifth goal of the season on a snapshot from the right circle beat goalie Louis Dominque at 4:32 of the third, three minutes after Arizona’s Mario Kempe tied it at 2.

Tavares scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season in the second after Arizona’s Anthony Duclair scored early in the first.