Isles extend road win streak to four

The Islanders' alternating advancements and regressions in the playoff chase recently have been as simple as the difference between playing at home and on the road.

In reverse of conventional wisdom, that is.

The Isles dropped two of three on their recent home stand at Nassau Coliseum, but they posted their fourth consecutive win away from Long Island with a tight 3-1 decision Tuesday in Winnipeg. The road winning streak is the Isles' longest since they also won four straight in January 2008, and it moved their road record this season to 12-11-3 entering Thursday's visit to St. Louis. That mark offsets a middling 12-13-5 mark on home ice, leaving the Isles at 24-24-8 and in 11th position in the tightening Eastern Conference -- six points behind No. 8 Toronto through Tuesday's action.

"One night, you're 11th, one night you're 14th. It's so tight back there, you can't help but look," defenseman Andrew MacDonald said. "You've got to see what other teams are doing. It's good for competition, it's good for us to keep an eye on it to realize we're right there, we're not that far back."

Coming off a 4-1 home loss Sunday to Florida, the Isles played with efficiency and urgency against the Jets. P.A. Parenteau netted the go-ahead goal in the second period and drew an assist on Matt Martin's empty netter as the Isles improved to 8-3-2 in their last 13 games with their latest tooth-and-nail victory.

"It's always like this," veteran goalie Evgeni Nabokov said. "Once you get to February or March, that's what you're going to get. It's almost a playoff."

Copyright (C) 2012 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.