NEW YORK (AP) – Noah Dobson scored a 4:02 power-play goal in overtime as the New York Islanders won 4-3 over the Calgary Flames on Monday night.
Sebastian Aho, Anders Lee and Kyle Palmeri also scored as New York bounced back from a 3–1 deficit in the third period to secure their sixth win in seven games. Matthew Barzal made three assists and Ilya Sorokin scored 43 goals.
“We got down to our game,” Lee said. “We were able to stay on the forecheck, get some pucks back, be on top of them. We went for the third period knowing we wanted to take the game. Right now, we’re a group that knows That when we’re playing our game, we can do things.”
Mikel Backlund had two goals and Elias Lindholm also scored as Calgary lost their fifth straight game (0-3-2) – the second straight in overtime. Jacob Markstrom had 28 saves in the opener of the Flames’ three-game Northeast Road Trip after playing eight straight at home.
“I thought we played really well,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “I think we were pretty good from the start. We dodged a couple that cost us a point.”
The Islanders had a power play in overtime after an offensive-field interference penalty on Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersen. New York held onto their offensive zone for full man’s advantage until Barzal set up Dobson for the game-winning goal. It was the defenseman’s fourth of the season.
Sorokin convinces Lindholm twice, once by the door, to keep it tied through overtime in the middle.
“He was excellent again,” Islanders coach Len Lambert said of Sorokin. “He makes significant savings just in critical moments and you saw it in overtime.”
Calgary had a 30-12 advantage on shots in 40 minutes, but the Islanders found their game in the third period, wiping out a two-goal deficit with two points in the 59-second gap in the middle of the period.
Lee accumulated a rebound for his seventh of the season at 10:08. Nelson then fired a shot from the slot that took off from the Flames defense, and Lee found the puck on the Calgary goalkeeper’s side. Soon after, Palmeri beat Markström from the right face-off circle to tie the period with 8:53 to go.
The Flames got off to a strong start by beating the Islanders 18-4 in the first 20 minutes.
Backlund opened the scoring with 8:44 in the first as he received a backhand pass from Jonathan Huberdeau and wired a shot behind Sorokin’s blocker.
Aho tied it 1:10 later when he got behind the Flames’ defense and got a pass from Barzal to get his first of the season. It came on Islanders’ first shot at the goal of the game.
“Barzal is a great player, he sees those plays before they happen,” Aho said. “I could see there were some people down in our area, I was just trying to take off and open up.”
Lindholm put out the flames with a nifty redirection of a shot by Noah Hannifein, with 3:39 remaining in the period.
Backlund extended the Flames’ lead to 3–1 on their second night and 5:50 in the second in the fifth season of the season. It came on Calgary’s 28th shot of the game.
