Isles outlast Ducks in marathon shootout
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Nick Leddy scored in the 14th shootout round to give the New York Islanders a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night at the Honda Center.
Adam Pelech and Josh Bailey scored in regulation for the Islanders (6-8-4), who broke a four-game losing streak with just their second victory this month. Goalie Thomas Greiss stopped a season-high 39 shots.
Cam Fowler and Rickard Rakell followed suit for the Ducks (9-7-4), who, by earning a point, move into first place in the Pacific Division by one point over the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers. Goalie Jonathan Bernier made 33 saves.
Rakell tied the score at 9:08 of the third period when he received Corey Perry's pass from the right circle and converted a wrist shot from the left circle for his third goal in the past three games. The 23-year-old Swede has seven goals and 11 points in 11 games since signing a six-year contract extension Oct. 14.
Both goalies made crucial saves in the final two minutes of regulation. After stopping a slapshot from New York's Travis Harmonic, Bernier reached backward to prevent Brock Nelson from poking the rebound inside the right post with 1:42 left. With 1:15 and 1:05 remaining, Greiss used his blocker to stop Ryan Kesler and Perry.
The Islanders took a 2-1 lead in the first period after Fowler's power-play goal put the Ducks ahead 1:04 into the game. Fowler fired a slap shot from the left point inside the right post for his sixth goal 26 seconds after New York's Anthony Beauvillier received a hooking penalty.
But Pelech used his first goal of the season, a slap shot from the blue line, to tie the score at 11:51. Then with 3:18 left in the period, Bailey scored his third goal when he one-timed a shot that ricocheted off the right post from the right circle during a power play.
NOTES: New York scratched D Scott Mayfield, C Shane Prince and G Jaroslav Halak, the Islanders' first-string goalie who started the previous seven games. ... Islanders LW Nikolay Kulemin played his 600th career game. ... The Islanders led the NHL with 347 blocked shots entering the game. ... Anaheim scratched LW Joseph Cramarossa, D Korbinian Holzer and D Clayton Stoner. ... Ducks C Antoine Vermette set a team record Sunday night by winning 95.2 percent of his faceoffs (20 of 21) against the Los Angeles Kings. Vermette compiled the fourth-best percentage in history (minimum 20 faceoffs) since the NHL began tabulating faceoff statistics in 1997-98.