Eberle's OT goal lifts Islanders over Kings
NEW YORK -- Jordan Eberle scored 1:54 into overtime Saturday night as the New York Islanders overcame a two-goal first period deficit to edge the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 at Barclays Center.
Eberle's score, which came after Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss turned back two Kings breakaway opportunities, capped a wild final few minutes in which Anders Lee gave New York the lead with 3:16 remaining in regulation before Anze Kopitar forced overtime with 13 seconds left.
Josh Bailey and John Tavares also scored for the Islanders (18-12-3), who won for only the third time in the last nine games (3-5-1), while Greiss made 26 saves.
Oscar Fantenberg and Tyler Toffoli scored in the first period for the Kings (20-10-4), who have lost the first three games of a four-game east coast trip. Goalie Darcy Kuemper recorded 29 saves.
The Kings opened the scoring with 8:04 remaining in the first, when Fantenberg's shot from just in front of the blue line sailed past Islanders right winger Cal Clutterbuck and under the glove of Greiss, who may have been distracted by New York's Scott Mayfield and Los Angeles' Tyler Toffoli tussling for position to the left of the net.
Toffoli single-handedly created the Kings' second goal, a power play tally with 2:49 remaining. With the Islanders' Calvin de Haan and Andrew Ladd trying to poke the puck free in front of and behind him, Toffoli managed to elude de Haan, shake Ladd and fire a shot around Mayfield that sailed past a lunging Greiss.
The Islanders cut the lead in half with 49.3 seconds left in the first when Bailey jumped to get out of the way of a shot by de Haan but instead redirected the puck, which fluttered by Kuemper.
The Islanders finally struck on the power play and tied the score 4:15 into the third, when Tavares fired a shot from the left faceoff circle that eluded a diving Kuemper, who was screened by Derek Forbort.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched C Shane Prince (conditioning stint) as well as C Alan Quine and D Dennis Seidenberg. D Johnny Boychuk was active after sitting out an optional practice Friday because of a lower-body injury. ... Islanders RW Steve Bernier was also active after being recalled from Bridgeport of the AHL on Friday. To make room for Bernier, the Islanders loaned RW Josh Ho-Sang to Bridgeport. ... The Kings scratched C Andy Andreoff, C Jonny Brodzinski and D Kurtis MacDermid. ... The Kings have given up a power-play goal in each of the last five games.