Nelson’s OT goal lifts Islanders past Leafs
NEW YORK — Brock Nelson’s second goal of the game at 2:42 of overtime lifted the New York Islanders to a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in National Hockey League action Monday night.
Trailing 5-4 late in the third period, the Islanders pulled goalie Thomas Greiss and tied it on Andrew Ladd’s deflection with 1:29 left.
Josh Bailey had a goal and two assists, Ryan Strome a goal and an assist, and Nikolay Kulemin also scored for the Islanders. New York stopped a two-game skid and improved to 6-0-2 in its last eight at home.
On the winning goal, Nelson got a pass from Bailey and beat Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen on the blocker side. That gave the Islanders their first win this season in a game they trailed after two periods (1-12-2).
Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner, Nikita Soshnikov, Zach Hyman and William Nylander scored for Toronto, which finished 2-4-0 on a season-high six-game road trip. Morgan Rielly had three assists and Nikita Zaitsev added two.
Nylander, who had his first career hat trick in a win at Boston on Saturday night, had given Toronto a 5-4 lead with 2:01 left in regulation when took a pass from Rielly and beat Greiss on the blocker side. Ladd tied it with his 12th goal. Bailey made it 4-all with 6½ minutes remaining on rebound for his 11th. It marked the third straight game the Islanders evened it after trailing 4-3 going into the third period.
They lost 5-4 at Detroit on Friday night, and then by the same score in overtime at home to Carolina on Saturday.
Marner put the Maple Leafs ahead 3-2 in the second period off a centring pass through traffic from Tyler Bozak for his 14th goal at 5:12.
With Rielly off for holding on the game’s first penalty, Hyman scored short-handed as he brought the puck up the left side and fired it past Greiss’s blocker at 9:34 for his eighth. It was Hyman’s third short-handed score of the season, and the Maple Leafs’ fifth.
Strome scored 1:23 into the game as he brought the puck up the left side and knocked in the rebound of his own shot past Andersen for his eighth of the season.
Toronto took the lead with goals 1:24 apart later in the first. Soshnikov tied it with his fourth on a slap shot from about 45 feet with 6:33 left.
Matthews, stopped by Greiss on a point-blank attempt earlier in the period, gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead. It was the rookie’s teamhigh 24th.