Jets rally to beat Islanders 5-4 in OT

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Evander Kane cleaned up a rebound and capped a come-back victory for the Jets.

Kane scored 1:59 into overtime, tapping in a rebound from Olli Jokinen's long shot, to give Winnipeg a 5-4 victory Sunday after trailing the New York Islanders by two with eight minutes left.

``I knew Olli had (the puck) and there was nobody in my way and I was actually looking for the breakaway, but Olli kept it,'' said Kane, who also had an assist. ``I knew he would shoot it when I saw the big windup.

``He has a really hard shot.''

Goals 65 seconds apart by Dustin Byfuglien and Alexander Burmistrov set up the extra period for Winnipeg. Alexei Ponikarovsky and Bryan Little also scored.

Kane thought Jokinen would bury the shot behind Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov, but the puck rolled along the goal line and he poked it over.

The goal was reviewed, but Kane had no doubt it counted.

``It was just like watching a football game. It just has to break the plane,'' he said.

The Jets have won three games in a row.

John Tavares had a goal and two assists for the Islanders. David Ullstrom, Matt Moulson and Mark Streit also scored for New York. Frans Nielsen had a pair of assists.

Islanders coach Jack Capuano knew the Jets weren't out of it. Winnipeg went down 2-0 in the first period against the Penguins Friday and pulled out a 4-2 win.

``After watching the Pittsburgh game, we knew they were going to come,'' Capuano said. ``They got good speed, they got really good transition with their (defense), and they beat us up the ice in the first period.

``We could have been down a lot more than a goal. ``

Byfuglien's goal on the power play at 12:59 of the third period marked the first time this season the Islanders had allowed a power-play goal in 17 shorthanded situations.

Burmistrov's tied the game 4-4 in front of a sellout of 15,004 at MTS Centre.

``No, it wasn't a Picasso, that's for sure,'' Jets coach Claude Noel said. ``But, you know, you're going to have those nights and I think what you have to do is you kind of have to try to get a grip on things.

``It wasn't ideally what we would have liked, but I did like that we had some time left in the game and we didn't sit and dwell on the negative and sit and beat ourselves up.''

Jets backup goalie Al Montoya got his first start of the season against his former team and stopped 21 shots. He signed as a free agent with Winnipeg last July.

He played two seasons with the Islanders, but got into only 31 games last season because of a concussion suffered after a December hit by Kane.

Nabokov stopped 30.

A turnover by the Jets led to New York's first goal, a wrist shot Ullstrom put past Montoya at 2:34 of the opening period. Ullstrom is on a four-game points streak with two goals and a pair of assists.

Winnipeg tied it up eight minutes later when Kyle Wellwood sent a pass across the front of the net to Ponikarovsky for his first goal with the Jets.

Little gave the Jets a 2-1 lead at 5:13 of the second period when he took a pass in front of the net from Nik Antropov and shot the puck under the stick of Nabokov.

Tavares went on a breakaway 22 seconds into the third period and tallied his first goal of the season with a high shot past Montoya to make it 2-2.

Tavares got his assist when his long shot was redirected by Moulson for a 3-2 lead at 5:09. Streit made it 4-2 with a power-play marker at 9:53.