John Tavares has two goals in Islanders' victory over Coyotes

The Islanders didn't leave their "A'' game on the West Coast.

Returning from a productive week in California, they continued their strong play back in Brooklyn, turning a one-goal lead entering the third period into a 5-2 win over the Coyotes Monday night at Barclays Center.

John Tavares had two goals and an assist for the Islanders, whose four-goal third period was all the more impressive because they did it without Mikhail Grabovski, who left the game midway through the second period with an upper-body injury. Down to three centers, the Islanders got contributions from each in earning their third victory in four games.

Casey Cizikas made a perfect feed for Brock Nelson's tap-in goal at 1:23 of the third period to give the Isles a 2-0 lead. Tavares scored off a quick pass from Kyle Okposo (three assists) for a 3-0 lead at 5:38. Frans Nielsen, who scored on the power play in the first period off a pass from Tavares, leaped over Connor Murphy to feed Johnny Boychuk, whose point shot was tipped home by Steve Bernier for a 4-0 lead at 11:50.

After two late Coyotes goals, Tavares sealed it with an empty-netter with 39.8 seconds to go.

"That's probably our best home game of the year," Nielsen said. "We kept it simple, we didn't turn pucks over. That's been our problem at home all year, I don't know why. We've been really sloppy with the puck. Not tonight."

Even with just a 1-0 lead through 40 minutes, the Islanders were dictating the play against a young Coyotes squad. Nielsen's goal at 4:51, which stemmed a 1-for-21 power-play slide, seemed to portend a big night in the Isles' first home game in eight days.

Arizona goaltender Anders Lindback was strong through two periods, but the Islanders did not grow frustrated. All three of their third-period goals on Lindback came from within three feet of the crease, indicating where Jack Capuano wanted his players to be and where he knows they can find success.

"We had some good jump," said Okposo, whose assist on Tavares' first goal was the 200th of his career. "We had a light practice [Sunday] and we were fresh. Our centers did a great job [after Grabovski went out]. They played a lot of minutes and everybody picked their game up."

Jaroslav Halak (31 saves) lost his bid for a third shutout in 10 starts on Martin Hanzal's jam shot with 4:15 to go. Then there was a brief moment of "uh-oh" when Mikkel Boedker raced through four Islanders for a power-play goal with 2:07 left. But Tavares closed the door with his team-leading ninth of the season to power through any jet lag.

"It could be one of those games where you don't feel great. You have to be mentally strong," Tavares said. "We were. We kept making hard plays, we kept to the system well and we executed."