The New York Islanders won their sixth straight game on Thursday night, defeating the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in overtime.
ELMONT, NY -- The New York Islanders won their sixth straight game on Thursday night, defeating the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in overtime.
The Islanders lost defenseman Noah Dobson early in this one, leaving the ice at the 5:33 mark.
At 6:12 of the first, Mathew Barzal was shaken up as he drew an interference penalty taken by Michael Pezzetta. Barzal returned to the bench before play resumed.
Montreal killed off the penalty, and Nick Suzuki was sprung on a breakaway shortly after, but Varlamov made a big poke check to deny the scoring chance before Brock Nelson cleared the puck out of danger.
The Habs scored first with 2:02 left to play in the opening frame after Jordan Harris’ slapshot from the point beat Varlamov's blocker side through a screen. Cole Caufield set up the goal, and Suzuki tallied the secondary assist.
The Canadiens took that 1-0 lead into the break, even though the Islanders led in shots 8-5.
Horvat rang a shot off the crossbar 3:39 into the second period, nearly getting the Islanders on the board but they remained down 1-0.
Pierre Engvall evened the score at 1-1 as he walked into the slot and sniped a shot past Montembeault’s glove at 5:17 of the second. Adam Pelech and Mike Reilly were given the assists:
Right after the halfway point of the second, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Brendan Gallagher dropped the gloves after Pageau hit Gallagher.
With under five minutes to play in the second, Brock Nelson and Engvall rushed up on a 2-on-1 chance. Nelson took the shot that produced a rebound, but Engvall wasn’t able to jam it home as Montembeault shut the door with 4:38 left in the second.
Engvall had another high-level chance shortly after, this time via a breakaway, but Montembeault made another huge save, closing up the five-hole.
With 10.8 seconds to play in the second, Pezzetta delivered a crushing hit on Pelech, earning him a two-minute minor penalty for boarding.
After 40 minutes, the score was tied at 1-1. New York had 12 more shots than Montreal, who had five.
Caufield restored the Canadiens lead at 2-1, capitalizing after Matt Martin was down on the ice after blocking a hard slapshot. He snuck the puck in through Varlamov to the surprise of everyone 3:42 into the period:
Kovacevic and Matheson assisted on the goal.
Just 2:48 later, the Islanders answered to tie the game at 2-2 as Casey Cizikas bounced the puck into the net on a wrap-around:
Pelech tallied his second assist of the game and Pulock was credited with the secondary.
This game needed overtime, with the score tied at 2-2 and the Islanders leading in total shots 32 to 15.
Palmieri was the hero with a snipe in overtime to win the game 3-2 for the Islanders, who collected a huge two points:
Brock Nelson assisted 1:17 into overtime.
UP NEXT: The Islanders will face the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, with puck drop at 12:30 ET.