The New York Islanders are deeply rooted in a tight race for who will be the number one seed in the Eastern Conference for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They came into the matchup at 42-21-4, for a total of 88 points. That left them two points behind the Montreal Canadiens, who were not in action on Monday night. This was a great opportunity for them to tie the Canadiens in the standings.
But despite the opportunity, the home team got the early advantage. In the opening period David Booth scored the first goal of the game and his fourth this season as the Maple Leafs had a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission. Also, the first period was filled with several penalties, with the Islanders getting called for 3 of the 4 penalties, sending Anders Lee, Ryan Strome, and Cal Clutterbuck to the penalty box.
The Maple Leafs would win the second period as well, since there was again only one goal in the period. That would happen near the halfway mark of the period when Peter Holland would score his 11th goal of the season on a goal assisted by Richard Panik and James van Riemsdyk. It seemed like it would be rather smooth sailing for the Maple Leafs going into the final period, but as they say, a two goal lead in hockey is the worst kind of lead.
Just barely into the final period, the Islanders were finally able to get on the board. Tyler Kennedy opened up the scoring with his fifth goal of the season, finally getting one past Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier. The Maple Leafs would respond though and not fold, scoring about 5 minutes later when James van Riemsdyk got his 23rd goal of the year, and this one was unassisted. A few minutes later David Booth was called for holding, which was his first penalty of the game, but it gave the Islanders their only power play goal of the game, a Frans Nielsen goal assisted by both Anders Lee and Josh Bailey. 30 seconds after that goal was scored, Casey Cizikas netted another one past Bernier to tie the game up at 3 a piece and it was headed into overtime.
That was when John Tavares would have his heroic moment of this game, scoring his 33rd goal of the year with just seconds remaining in the overtime period. Tyler Kennedy and Travis Hamonic both had assists on this final goal, giving the Islanders an epic come from behind victory on the road to get to 90 points on the season.
The New York Islanders (43-21-4, 90 points) will travel home to face their in-state rival the New York Rangers (40-17-7, 87 points) on Tuesday night, March 10. Meanwhile the Toronto Maple Leafs (26-35-6, 58pts) will remain at home and play the Buffalo Sabres (19-42-5, 43pts) on Wednesday night.