Late goal sends Isles past Rangers
NEW YORK — Josh Bailey scored with 1:26 remaining to lift the New York Islanders over the Rangers 4-3 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
Cal Clutterbuck found Bailey cutting to the back post, and he beat Henrik Lundqvist to help the Islanders improve to 13-2-0 in the last 15 meetings between the Big Apple rivals.
Matt Barzal had a goal and two assists, and Robin Lehner made 27 saves. Jordan Eberle and Anders Lee also scored for the Islanders, and Johnny Boychuk had two assists.
Ryan Strome, Kevin Shattenkirk and Jesper Fast scored for the Rangers, who dropped their fifth straight to open 2019. Lundqvist stopped 16 shots.
Fast tied it 3-3 midway through the third period by knocking the puck out of the air and past Lehner. That came after Lee put the Islanders ahead 3-2 by redirecting Nick Leddy’s slap shot on the power play early in the second period.
CAPITALS 4, BRUINS 2: Nicklas Backstrom scored in the third period after missing a game as Washington won its 14th straight over Boston.
Backstrom glided in to the Bruins’ zone and ripped a left-circle wrister past Jaroslav Halak for the go-ahead goal with 14:14 remaining.
Jakub Vrana also had a goal for the Capitals, whose streak against the Bruins dates to March 29, 2014.
Ryan Donato and David Krejci each had goals for Boston.
Braden Holtby made 39 saves, improving to 12-0-0 against Boston during the Capitals’ streak.
Halak had 18 saves for Boston, which had its fivegame win streak snapped.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, DEVILS 2: John Tavares scored twice and hit the
300-goal mark for his career in leading Toronto over New Jersey.
Defenseman Ron Hainsey also scored in Toronto’s three-goal first period and third-string goaltender Michael Hutchinson made
27 saves as the Maple Leafs beat the Devils for the third time in as many games. Mitch Marner added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds to play
Blake Coleman and Brian Boyle scored in a 26-second span for the Devils late in the second period to get New Jersey within a goal. Keith Kinkaid made 39 saves, including two on Tavares that prevented his hat trick and 30th goal of the season.