Islanders finish West Coast trip with 4-1 win over Ducks

It's hardly a recipe for success to fail on a two-minute, two-man power play.

"You don't score on those," Cal Clutterbuck said, "and you usually end up losing the game."

But the Islanders are starting to show the ability to shrug off setbacks, something that was crucial to their success last season. Even though they failed on a 1:53 five-on-three in the first period -- and the Ducks converted on their five-on-three opportunity in the second -- the Islanders were the stronger team Friday night, even coming off a bruising loss in Los Angeles 24 hours earlier.

The 4-1 win over a scuffling Ducks team sent the Islanders home from California winners of two out of three while allowing only five goals. Thomas Greiss made 24 saves, Clutterbuck scored a big goal to give the Isles a 2-0 lead midway through the second period and Frans Nielsen scored twice in the third on perfectly executed counter-attacks to make Saturday morning's cross-country flight home a happy one.

Other than not being able to score a second goal against the Kings on Thursday night, the Islanders played three of their best games of the season. "We're trying to build toward having these types of games consistently," Clutterbuck said. "That's what we did last year. I think we played three pretty good games out here."

Brock Nelson got the Islanders on the board at 6:36 of the first, whipping a wrist shot past Anton Khudobin.

Less than three minutes later, the Ducks had two men in the penalty box and the Islanders had a chance to seize the game. They didn't, though not for a lack of trying. They pumped seven shots on Khudobin, plus one Johnny Boychuk blast that hit the post and stayed out plus a few pucks that hopped over waiting sticks.

"We had some great looks there. It's not like we didn't generate enough," Jack Capuano said. "When you don't score five-on-three, it can hurt your momentum, but I thought we did some good things."

Boychuk sent another shot toward the Ducks' net in the second that deflected off an Anaheim stick and caught Clutterbuck in the back. The puck fell right onto his stick, though, and he swept it past Khudobin at 9:35 for a 2-0 lead.

Corey Perry's goal off a mad scramble sent the game to the third at 2-1 and the Ducks, struggling to score through a slow start to the season, sent four players in deep on every shift.

Then Anders Lee raced past Josh Manson to control a puck and send it to Josh Bailey in the slot. Bailey fed Nielsen cutting down the slot late and it was 3-1 at 2:47. The Ducks continued to chase and Nielsen repeated his late-driving tip at 16:28 off a feed from Lee.

"We came out of a little adversity [Thursday] night and a little early after that five-on- three and we kept on pushing," Lee said. "Cal's goal was huge. That really broke through for us."

The Islanders' defense was calm and poised, notable given that Adam Pelech was making his NHL debut. Greiss made a couple strong stops, but the Islanders were able to turn pucks back on Anaheim and create offense.

Capuano had high praise for Pelech, who played 13:19 and did not look out of place. "Good stick, good gap control, his positioning was real good," he said. "He made some good reads."