Canucks Score Three Straight; Defeat Islanders 4-3 in OT

Nearly halfway through overtime, J.T. Miller hit a wide-open Quinn Hughes for a breakaway and buried his sixth goal of the season and third career overtime winner, giving the Canucks a 4-3 OT win.

VANCOUVER, BC -- The New York Islanders jumped out to a 3-1 lead over the Canucks, but once again they faded in the third period, allowing Vancouver to knot the score at three. 

Nearly halfway through overtime, J.T. Miller hit a wide-open Quinn Hughes for a breakaway and buried his sixth goal of the season and third career overtime winner, giving the Canucks a 4-3 OT win. 

Earlier in the contest, at the first break of the first period, the Canucks honored their former captain with a video tribute. Bo Horvat was rather emotional:

"It was emotional for the whole warmup. It brought back some memories, and just the whole tribute and everybody, the way they reacted, just meant a lot to me. So, it was pretty special," Horvat said. "I had a lot of good times here, a lot of firsts, and a lot of memories. 

"So it was special night. Too bad we couldn't get the two points, but one I won't forget."

After hard work from Horvat down low in the Canucks zone, he drew a hooking penalty as Ian Cole headed to the box just over seven minutes into the first.

The Islanders' second power-play unit, which got the start, wasted no time scoring 29 seconds into the man advantage as Pierre Engvall's wrist shot from the left dot deflected off Dakota Joshua and past a screened Thatcher Demko for his first of the season.

Oliver Wahlstrom and Sebastian Aho were credited with the assists. 

The Islanders doubled their lead to 2-0 just 1:22 later on their second power-play chance as Brock Nelson's shot took a weird bounce, a chip shot if you will, over Demko and in for his seventh of the season. 

Noah Dobson and Mathew Barzal earned the assists. 

Early in the second period, Cal Clutterbuck took an undisciplined penalty as he boarded Mark Friedman in the offensive zone on a play that would have gone for an icing.

It was a moment in the game where the Islanders needed their penalty kill to come up large, but Sorokin got beat on a saveable shot from the left dot off the stick of J.T. Miller, which cut the Canucks deficit to 2-1 under five minutes into the second.

The Canucks carried that momentum on for the next several minutes, but Sorokin made some strong saves to keep the Islanders in front.

The Islanders needed that next goal, and Horvat provided it after a strong back-and-forth passing play with Barzal, which he one-timed into the back of the Canucks net at 8:33 of the second to give New York a 3-1 lead. 

That gave Barzal his second assist of the game. 

The Islanders found themselves on the kill at 9:24 of the second, after Noah Dobson was called for interference. 

Ryan Pulock had a chance to clear the zone but failed to do so, and the Canucks made him and the Islanders pay at 11:03 of the second after Brock Boeser, from the slot, finished off a Miller pass to make it a 3-2 game.

"We just can't take any undisciplined penalties," said Islanders coach Lane Lambert on the TNT broadcast moments after Canucks second goal. 

But that didn't stop them from doing so yet again, as Anders Lee went off for slashing at 140:08 of the second. Thanks to a Miller and Andrei Kuzmenko whiff job at the back post, the Islanders kept their slim lead, entering the third up 3-2. 

The Islanders took three penalties in the opening 6:45 of the third period, which included two at once. Mayfield took the first one for tripping, which the Islanders killed, but then Dobson (slashing) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (tripping) both went off. 

While on the power play, Miller's one-timer drilled teammate Kuzmenko in the face, as he needed to be helped off. 

Filip Hronek's one-timer, with 15 seconds to go on the 5-on-3 advantage, beat Sorokin through a screen for his first as a Canuck to tie the game at 3-3 with 11:30 to play in the third.

The Islanders thought they scored the go-ahead goal after a strong Anders Lee chance and a loose puck behind Demko, but Cole took the puck off the goal line before it fully crossed with under five minutes to play. 

In overtime, Miller found Hughes for a breakaway, but Sorokin had no magic left in him, and the Canucks gained the 4-3 win in the extra session. 

The Islanders penalty kill on this losing streak sits at a whopping 55 percent, killing off 11 of 20 and just 3-of-6 in Wednesday's loss.

"I didn't like our penalty killing," Lambert said. "I thought we were too passive. I think when you are getting scored on, you start to sit back. And that's what happened a little bit with that, and then you can't take two penalties on the same play. I'm sorry, it just can't happen. 

"Too good of a power play to do that. Other than that, there were plenty of things to like about the game."

Horvat was asked if there's a "here we go again" thought in the third period, as their lack of discipline in the final 20 of regulation has been a glaring issue on this losing streak.

"It's tough not to feel that way when things are going the way they are right now. And the frustrating part is like five on five, like, we're not playing bad hockey, and it's just a matter of us putting it all together. 

"Our special teams have to be better. Us guys that go out there in those key moments have to be better as well."

As for the overtime frame, it's just a matter of missed assignments. 

"Missed assignment. Yeah, that's it," Lambert said. "There's nothing else you can say. It's three on three. It's man-on-man. If you don't get your assignment, it's in the back of the net."

The Islanders are now 0-for-4 in overtime this season. 

LINES:

Mathew Barzal - Bo Horvat - Simon Holmstrom

Pierre Engvall - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri

Anders Lee - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Oliver Wahlstrom

Matt Martin- Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech - Noah Dobson

Alexander Romanov - Ryan Pulock

Sebastian Aho - Scott Mayfield

Ilya Sorokin

Semyon Varlamov

UP NEXT: The Islanders head to Calgary to battle the Flames on Saturday night at 7:30 PM ET.