Bo Horvat, Islanders get past Leafs in OT

Field Level Media|published: Mon 11th December, 22:02 2023

Dec 11, 2023; Elmont, New York, USA; New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin (30) makes a save after Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitchell Marner (16) takes a shot during the first period at UBS Arena. credits: Thomas Salus-USA TODAY Sports

Bo Horvat scored 46 seconds into overtime on Monday night for the New York Islanders, who beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in Elmont, N.Y.

Horvat's game-winner came just after John Tavares, who played his first nine seasons with the Islanders, collected his 1,000th career point by assisting on Morgan Rielly's goal with 6.4 seconds left in regulation. Tavares is the 98th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points.

Tavares, who also scored Toronto's second goal, was booed loudly as a note about his achievement aired on the scoreboard.

Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas scored in the first and Kyle Palmieri scored in the second for the Islanders, who have collected points in 12 of their past 13 games (8-1-4). Goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 36 saves.

Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs, who lost for the second time in six games (4-0-2). Goalie Ilya Samsonov recorded 27 saves.

A slashing penalty on Robert Bortuzzo generated the power play that led to the Maple Leafs opening the scoring at the 5:50 mark of the first.

Matthews began a tic-tac-toe sequence by passing to William Nylander, who was next to Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield at the right side of the net. Nylander passed to Mitchell Marner, who immediately dished to Matthews, and the center flicked a shot beyond the stick of Alexander Romanov and over Sorokin's glove shoulder.

The Islanders tied the score just 3:30 later. Nelson fired a pass off the far boards to begin a sequence that ended with him taking a pass from Palmieri, with Nelson whirling and firing a shot past Samsonov from the upper left faceoff circle.

An end-to-end rush led to the Islanders' go-ahead goal with 1:27 remaining in the first. Hudson Fasching was surrounded behind the Maple Leafs' net by Rielly and Jake McCabe but managed to pass to Cal Clutterbuck, whose backhander into the crease glanced off the stick of Marner and to Cizikas, who beat Samsonov with a point-blank backhander.

Palmieri scored just 1:10 into the second before Tavares cut the Islanders' lead in half at 7:43 of the period by redirecting Conor Timmins' shot.

—Field Level Media

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