ELMONT, NY — Dylan Guenther scored his second goal of the night 2:18 into overtime to lift the Utah Hockey Club to a 5-4 comeback victory over the New York Islanders, who squandered a pair of third-period leads almost immediately to fall in their season opener.
Maxim Tsyplakov scored his first NHL goal with 2:07 to go in regulation to put the Islanders (0-1) in the lead, but it lasted all of 13 seconds when Josh Doan stuffed home an equalizer through Semyon Varlamov at his right post with 1:54 to go to force overtime.
Conceding goals quickly after scoring their own was a problem last season that has already followed the Islanders into the new season. Jean-Gabriel Pageau gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead 6:51 into the 3rd period with a shorthanded goal, but Utah’s Dylan Guenther equalized just 44 seconds later.
“Well, there’s one thing we need to be better at, it’s when we have leads, find a way to protect that lead,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “Twice we gave them a chance to come back in that game.”
Both Varlamov and Utah’s Connor Ingram posted 21 saves each on the night.
Utah, playing in its second-ever game since moving from Arizona, the Hockey Club is now 2-0.
Anthony Duclair opened his Islanders account 11:10 into the first period on the power play when he tipped a point shot from Noah Dobson with his foot under Utah goalie Connor Ingram.
“It’s always good to produce in any kind of way and help the team win,” Duclair said. “But at the end of the day, we’re looking for wins.”
It was the only one of six power-play opportunities that the Islanders converted in the on the night — the missed chances stressed all the more when Utah tied it up with 58.4 seocnds to go in the opening frame.
“For sure [we left a lot on the table] but it’s just one game,” Duclair said. “Still got lots to work on. The looks were there.”
After Alex Romanov’s interference penalty, Lawson Crouse’s power-play one-timer beat Varlamov over the glove.
A sleepy second period saw the Islanders fall behind with 6:53 remaining. After being hemmed in their zone for over one minute, a shot from the point by Mikhail Sergachev deflected off the stick of Hayton, who was setting a screen in front while battling with Pageau — and past Varlamov.
Bo Horvat came up with a reply 1:03 into the third period to draw the Islanders level, one-timing a pass by Mathew Barzal from behind the net home.
Following a Kyle Palmieri tripping penalty with the Islanders breaking out of their defensive zone at the 6:41 mark, both teams traded goals in quick succession.
It was the shorthanded Islanders who took the lead thanks to the familiar penalty-killing merchants of Simon Holmstrom and Pageau. Off a defensive-zone draw, an errant Utah pass played Pageau and Holmstrom on a two-on-one break.
Pageau fed Holmstrom in front, but the winger could not get all of the shot. However, it fell right to Pageau with nothing but an open goal in front of him to finish it off easily at the 6:51 mark.
Just 44 seconds later, Guenther tied it back up at three apiece with a well-worked one-timer from the left circle.
“Just not good enough,” Pageau said. “We have a new system that we want to work on to be perfect at it. There are skilled players in this league that are going to make some plays. We have to try and limit them… I was not happy when I was on the ice on the one I gave them. We could all be better and we will.”
Utah defenseman Ian Cole gave the Islanders a golden chance to re-take the lead at the 9:22 mark when he high-sticked Anders Lee directly off a face-off — a double-minor — which gave New York a four-minute power play.
They could not convert nor generate much of a threat, either.
“It’s nice to move the puck but at times, you need shots on net,” Roy said. “You need shots on net. We ddi well getting in and moving that puck, but come on, we have to get shots on net. That’s what they did and they scored their goals.”
