NEW YORK – Jaroslav Halak stopped 29 shots for his second shutout in three starts, Frans Nielsen scored twice and the New York Islanders beat the Calgary Flames 4-0 Monday night.
Mikhail Grabovski and Cal Clutterbuck also scored and Kyle Okposo and Nikolay Kulemin each had two assists to help the Islanders improve to 4-1-1 at home this season.
Halak, making his fourth start, also had a shutout at Columbus last Tuesday night.
Grabovski, who scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 win at St. Louis on Saturday, beat Flames goaltender Joni Ortio with a snap shot on the power play with just under 6 minutes left in the middle period for a 1-0 lead.
The Islanders then scored three in the third. Nielsen made it 2-0 with his second of the season 5:26 into the period. Cal Clutterbuck added to the lead with about 8 1/2 minutes to go, and Nielsen capped the scoring with his second of the game with 1:50 left.
The Flames, coming off a 4-1 defeat at the New York Rangers the previous night, lost for the seventh time in nine games this season.
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The Islanders came out strong, registering five of the first six shots of the game on Ortio, who made strong saves on Boychuk and Nielsen. Casey Cizikas also rang a shot off the crossbar in the opening period.
New York held a 14-8 shots advantage in the first. Both teams had 10 shots in the second.
The Flames had 11 more shots in the third but couldn’t solve Halak, who improved to 3-1-0 this season. Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman had perhaps the best chance almost five minutes with a point-blank from the top of the left circle.
The 24-year-old Ortio made his first start of the season and finished with 31 saves. He became the backup when Karri Ramo was sent to the minors last week. The Finnish goaltender was a sixth-round draft pick by Calgary in 2009.
The Flames, who won 45 games and finished with 97 points last season, are averaging less than two goals a game with just 16 goals in nine contests. They have yet to lead after two periods and they have yet to score more than three goals in a game.
Last season’s rookie sensation Johnny Gaudreau hasn’t scored in the last seven games and has only one goal this season.
Islanders forward Ryan Strome returned after he was a healthy scratch in the previous game.
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