Bailey, Isles edge Ducks in OT
NEW YORK -- Josh Bailey scored 54 seconds into overtime Sunday night as the New York Islanders avoided a painful loss by edging the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in their home opener at Barclays Center.
Bailey worked around a crowd in front of the net before deking Ducks goalie John Gibson and burying a shot into the middle of the net.
Brock Nelson and John Tavares each scored for the Islanders (1-2-0), who blew a 2-0 lead in the final half of the third period but avoided their first 0-3-0 start since the 2006-07 season.
Goalie Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves.
Cam Fowler scored 32 seconds after Tavares in the third period while Ryan Getzlaf scored an extra attacker goal with exactly a minute remaining to force overtime for the Ducks (0-2-1), who avoided their first 0-3-0 start since 2010-11.
Gibson made 27 saves.
The Islanders made Nelson's first-period goal stand for more than 40 minutes before Tavares and Cal Clutterbuck teamed up for a gritty effort with 12:01 left in the third.
Clutterbuck took a Tavares pass, descended upon Gibson and fired a shot that broke his stick.
Clutterbuck, seemingly unaware the stick had broken, looked as if he was trying to pass the loose puck to Tavares before he kicked the puck to him. Tavares' first shot bounced off the pads of Gibson but he buried the rebound.
Tavares' goal proved especially valuable just 32 seconds later, when Fowler's shot ticked off Thomas Hickey before caroming off Halak and into the net.
Nelson's goal 7:47 into the first -- in which he corralled the puck as he faced the net before spinning and firing a shot through Fowler and under Gibson's glove -- highlighted a period in which the Islanders held the Ducks without a shot for the first 14-plus minutes and outshot Anaheim 15-3.
Nelson nearly helped make it 2-0 with about eight minutes left in the second, when he hit Anders Lee with a pass in the crease. Lee's shot ticked off the post and skittered across the goalmouth before trickling out.
NOTES: A moment of silence was held in honor of former New York Jets defensive lineman Dennis Byrd, who was killed in a car crash Saturday in Oklahoma. ... The Islanders scratched C Mathew Barzal and G Jean-Francois Berube. In addition, the club also placed LW Shane Prince (lower body) on injured reserve. ... G Jaroslav Halak became the eighth different goalie to start for the Islanders in their home opener in the last 10 seasons. ... The Ducks scratched D Simon Despres (concussion symptoms), LW Emerson Etem and D Korbinian Holzer. ... The Ducks' five-game road trip is their longest to begin a season since 1996-97, when they also opened with a five-game trek.