Tkachuk scores twice to rally Flames past Islanders
Matthew Tkachuk scored twice in the third period, getting the tiebreaking goal with 1:05 left, to rally the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Sunday night.
Mark Jankowski also scored for the Flames, who pulled into a tie with Minnesota for the second wild card in the Western Conference. Mike Smith made 23 saves before leaving due to an injury with two seconds remaining, and David Rittich came on to close the game.
Travis Hamonic had an assist on Tkachuk’s late goal in his first game back in Brooklyn since the Islanders dealt him to Calgary in the off-season. The defenceman, who had 26 goals and 120 assists in 444 games over seven seasons in New York, received a standing ovation from the crowd during a video tribute in the first period and was visibly emotional when discussing his time with the Islanders after Calgary’s morning skate.
Casey Cizikas and Anthony Beauvillier scored for the Islanders, while Jaroslav Halak finished with 39 saves. It was the 17th time in the Islanders’ last 23 games that they have surrendered 37 or more shots on goal.
Trailing 2-0, the Flames cut the deficit in half on Jankowski’s power-play goal with 9 1/2
minutes left in the middle period. Tkachuk the tied it at 9:38
of the third.
Cizikas put the Islanders on
the board early in the first period thanks to an extraordinary individual effort. The forward picked off the puck along the sideboards and then scored through Smiths legs while falling forward.
Beauvillier put New York up by two at 2:59 of the second period when a seemingly harmless shot from the high slot sneaked by Smith.
NOTES: Flames F Troy Brouwer missed his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury . ... F Marek Hrivik and D Matt Bartkowski were scratched by Calgary. ... The Flames improved their road record 16-6-5 this season and are now 11-8-3 against Eastern Conference opponents. Calgary has won three of four on a six-game road trip, with stops in Boston and Nashville still to come . ... The Islanders scratched F Alan Quine, F Tanner Fritz and D Dennis Seidenberg . ... The Flames acquired Hamonic on the second day of the NHL draft in a trade that sent Calgary’s first and second round picks in 2018 to the Islanders along with a secondround pick in 2019 or 2020 . ... Sunday marked the seventh anniversary of the Islanders’ brawl against the Pittsburgh Penguins, which saw 65 penalties assessed for a total of 346 penalty minutes . ... The Islanders fell to 28-5-7 against Western Conference opponents in three seasons at Barclays Center . ... New York also dropped to 17-4-1 when scoring first this season, and 18-1-1 when leading after two periods.