NEW YORK _ The Islanders had been getting off to bad starts and they were struggling to keep the puck out of their net, and so they took a 3-6-2 December record into Saturday's game against Winnipeg at Barclays Center.
This time, though, they got off to a fast start and improved in their own end, which went well with the offense delivered by their sensational 20-year-old rookie center.
Mathew Barzal delivered his first career multi-goal game and tied the team's rookie record for goals in a game by scoring a hat trick, all off Jordan Eberle assists. Jaroslav Halak made 38 saves, and the Islanders emerged with a 5-2 win.
They had gone 0-1-1 in the previous two and 1-3-1 in the previous five.
Anders Lee scored from in close on a power play just 1:31 into the game for the Isles (19-13-4). Then Barzal beat Steve Mason from the left doorstep just 49 seconds later.
Tucker Poolman snuck a puck past Halak from the right point for the Jets (20-11-6) to cut the lead in half at 13:42.
But Barzal made it a two-goal lead again with 35.7 seconds remaining in the period, this time from behind the goal line on a bank shot off a defender's skate.
And then with 8:38 left in regulation, Barzal scored from in front, and it began raining hats on the ice. He became the youngest Islander to score a hat trick since John Tavares in January of 2011.
Anthony Beauvillier tacked on another with 4:59 remaining. Adam Lowry capped the scoring for Winnipeg with 1:36 remaining.
