Kyle Palmieri scored 1:17 into overtime Thursday night for the New York Islanders, who overcame a pair of one-goal deficits and moved closer to clinching a playoff berth with a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Elmont, N.Y.
Palmieri capped an extended sequence in the Canadiens’ zone by taking a pass from Brock Nelson and firing an angled shot past Sam Montembeault to give the Islanders (37-27-15, 89 points) their sixth straight win.
Pierre Engvall scored a tying goal in the second period and Casey Cizikas scored in the third for the Islanders, who are three points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins in both the race for third place in the Metropolitan Division and the second Eastern Conference wild card. The Penguins edged the Detroit Red Wings, 6-5, in overtime earlier Thursday.
The Islanders are four points ahead of the Red Wings, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers, who are tied for ninth place in the East.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov made 12 saves for the Islanders.
Jordan Harris and Cole Caufield scored for the Canadiens (30-36-13, 73 points), who have lost four of five (1-4-0). Montembeault recorded 28 saves.
Harris scored through traffic with 2:02 left in the first when his shot from just in front of the blue line sailed past Varlamov’s stick as he was screened by teammate Ryan Pulock as well as Canadiens left winger Juraj Slafkovsky.
Engvall tied the score 5:17 into the second. Adam Pelech passed to Engvall and he moved into the slot and sent a shot over the glove of Montembeault, who was screened by Islanders center Brock Nelson leaping over sliding Canadiens defenseman Justin Barron.
The Canadiens took another lead at the 3:42 mark of the third, when Varlamov got a piece of Caufield’s shot at point-blank range but couldn’t stop the puck. Cizikas tied the score just 2:48 later after he picked up the rebound of Adam Pelech’s shot and wrapped a shot around Montembeault’s pad.
–Field Level Media
