Islanders recover to top Canadiens in OT, gain on them in East

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Bo Horvat scored his second goal of the game at 3:37 of overtime, and the New York Islanders defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 at UBS Arena on Thursday.

Horvat kept the puck on a 2-on-1 with Kyle Palmieri and beat Sam Montembeault with a high wrist shot from the left face-off circle to the blocker side.

“I just closed my eyes and shot it,” Horvat said. “I think I wanted to shoot it pretty much the whole way, just to give ourselves a chance. I think just utilizing my shot is the most important thing in that situation. And thankfully it went in.”

Ilya Sorokin made 38 saves and had two assists, and Tony DeAngelo and Noah Dobson also each had two assists for the Islanders (32-28-8), who have won three straight games and are 3-0-1 in their past four. They moved within two points of the Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

“Montreal is a fast team. I guess they gave us a little bit of trouble,” New York coach Patrick Roy said. “But, we found a win and that’s all I care about right now. It’s the way we defended and when we had some moments where we weren’t as sharp, Ilya was outstanding. He was definitely the First Star of the Game. I guess you guys could decide if it was because of the number of saves or the number of points he got.”

Patrik Laine had a goal and an assist, and Joshua Roy and Brendan Gallagher scored for the Canadiens (33-27-8), who have points in 11 of their past 12 games (8-1-3). Montembeault made 21 saves.

“I feel like we played a really good game,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “It was unfortunate that we were down two at the time, but I think we believe in what we're doing. We're an extremely confident group, and we just kept at it. Obviously, we get a big power-play goal and we tie it up off a good bounce. I was very happy with the way we played tonight.”

Gallagher tied it 3-3 on a breakaway at 14:16 of the third period following a turnover by Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the Islanders’ offensive zone.

“It was real nice to get a point,” Gallagher said. “Every point matters. Yeah, we would like two. I thought we played a pretty good game. It comes down to them making a play in overtime, a great shot. We’ll take our point unsatisfied and get ready to get to work on Saturday.”

Anthony Duclair gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead on the power play at 5:37 of the first period. He snuck a shot over Montembeault’s left pad from the top of the crease after Anders Lee won a puck battle along the end boards and fed him in front.

The goal ended an 0-for-19 drought on the power play for New York.

Roy tied it 1-1 at 11:58 when he poked in a rebound from the top of the crease. Sorokin made the initial save on a Jayden Struble point shot, but Roy beat Dobson to the rebound.

Montreal center Nick Suzuki had a breakaway goal overturned at 4:06 of the second period after New York challenged for offside.

Simon Holmstrom put the Islanders in front 2-1 on the power play at 16:40. He sent a one-timer past Montembeault’s glove from the right circle off a Dobson pass.

“They moved the puck very well from Tony [DeAngelo] to Dobson and over to me,” Holmstrom said. “I was just trying to go short side and in.”

Horvat extended the lead to 3-1 at 2:31 of the third. He drove past Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson down the left side, cut to the net and put the puck under Montembeault’s right arm from in tight.

Laine cut it to 3-2 at 4:32 with a power-play goal from a sharp angle after Suzuki found him deep in the left circle following a failed clearance by the Islanders.

Sorokin denied Juraj Slafkovsky with the right pad from the top of the crease at 6:40 to keep it a 3-2 game.

Montreal’s Alex Newhook hit the crossbar from the slot at 11:40.

NOTES: Sorokin, who assisted on both of Horvat’s goals, became the first goalie in Islanders history with a multipoint game and one of six to do it in the NHL in the past five years. … Lee (assist) got his NHL 500th point and passed Derek King for sole possession of 13th place in New York history. Lee has 285 goals and 215 assists in 827 games. … Holmstrom has scored in three straight games (three goals). … Suzuki (assist) has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in 12 games since the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. … Laine has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past four games.