ELMONT, N.Y. — Kyle Palmieri snuck a tough-angled wrist shot from the right goal-line over the shoulder of goaltender Sam Montembeault 1:17 into overtime to lift the New York Islanders to a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at UBS Arena to strengthen their hold on third place in the Metropolitan Division.
“It’s a good feeling,” Palmieri said. “We battled… it’s one of those things that if you do the right things the majority of the time, things seem to find a way to work out.”
With their sixth straight win, the Islanders (37-27-15, 89 points) overturned a pair of one-goal deficits thanks to a second-period goal from Pierre Engvall and a quick third-period reply by Casey Cizikas to tie the game at two apiece and force overtime.
Following the trading of chances by both teams in the extra period, Palmieri saw an initial wraparound attempt saved by Montembeault with the rebound coming back out to Brock Nelson on the left wall. He meandered to the top of the zone before sending a pass to Palmieri in the left circle.
The veteran winger glided to the bottom of the circle and lifted his chance in for his 28th goal of the season.
“He tries that shot 500 times in practice,” forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau joked. “He’s good at it. We saw it right away on the bench… You want to [jump off the bench to] see him because he made that great shot and played an awesome game for us.”
New York now has a three-point lead for third place in the division after the Washington Capitals were beaten by the Buffalo Sabres earlier on Thursday. Washington was leap-frogged by the Pittsburgh Penguins, who beat the Detroit Red Wings.
Amid the good result comes troubling news, however. Top defenseman, Noah Dobson, exited just 5:33 into the game due to an upper-body injury and did not return.
“It was tough [to lose him],” Palmieri said. “He’s our QB on PP 1, he plays a lot of minutes for us and he’s having ag great season, so hopefully he’s OK.”
In his absence, his team appeared out of sorts for considerable stretches.
While they outshot Montreal 9-5 in the first period, it was the Canadiens who held a lead after the opening frame thanks to a Jordan Harris wrist shot from the point that snuck its way through traffic and past Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov with 2:02 remaining.
Varlamov made 13 saves in the win, including a vital poke-check save on a Nick Suzuki breakaway and a slick glove stop on a Joel Armia chance from point-blank range to keep New York’s deficit at one.
“Varly is in the zone right now,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “He’s big out there, he’s square, he’s tough to beat. He gave us a chance to stay in that game and win that hockey game.”
Engvall finally found a response for the Islanders 5:17 into the second period when, after being given too much space by the Canadiens’ defense, he snapped a vicious wrist shot from the left circle into the top-right corner of the goal.
The Swedish winger had five shots in total during the period, including a breakaway chance that was turned away by Montembeault.
Pageau dropped the gloves with Brendan Gallagher midway through the second after the Islanders forward hit the Montreal winger from behind in front of the New York bench. It was Gallagher who was suspended for five games earlier this season for an illegal check to Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech’s head in late January.
“It’s nothing personal,” Pageau said. “It just happened in the game like that. He’s a player with a lot of intensity and I am, too, so it just happened.”
Pelech once again was on the wrong end of a questionable hit when he was hit into the boards head-first by Michael Pezzetta late in the second to spark a curfuffle between both sides.
After the Islanders came up empty on the ensuing power play, which meandered ineffectively into the third period, the Canadiens took the lead when Caufield snuck a wrister through Varlamov’s five-hole on what was just their 12th shot of the night 3:48 into the final frame.
Cizikas found New York’s equalizer just 2:48 later when he stuffed a wraparound attempt between Montembault’s right skate and the post. The former fourth-liner turned first-liner got on the end of an Adam Pelech backhander that he slotted wide through traffic on a rare pinch toward the Montreal net. Hopping on the puck at Montembault’s left post, he circled the net and powered the backhander through.
“We’re playing fast, we’re getting pucks north, and we’re getting in on the forecheck,” Cizikas said. “We’re creating havoc around the net.”
