Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - Kyle Okposo scored the game-winning goal 26 seconds into overtime as the New York Islanders edged the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2, at the Bell Centre.
With the contest tied at 2-2 at the end of regulation, the Islanders ended things quickly. Bruno Gervais kept the puck in at the visitors blue line off an offensive zone faceoff and took a soft wrist shot that was knocked down in front. Okposo, standing in front, jammed away at the rebound and the disc slid under the left pad of Carey Price, giving the Islanders the win.
Mike Iggulden scored his first NHL goal, while Frans Nielsen also tallied for the Islanders, who recovered after dropping a 3-2 overtime decision at Toronto on Tuesday. New York has won five of seven overall. Yann Danis stopped 24- of-26 shots for the Islanders.
"It definitely is fitting that we win in this building," Danis said. "I was looking forward to this game, to bounce back and to have it here is something special. I can't thank the guys enough. They showed up and played a real hard game."
Tomas Plekanec and Tom Kostopoulos accounted for the Montreal goals. The Canadiens had a brief two-game winning streak come to an end.
Price turned in a solid game, stopping 36-of-39 shots for the Canadiens.
"I never like losing so it's a tough way to go," Price said about the loss. "I think we have to find more consistency in our game for 60 minutes. Everybody needs to play a full game instead of playing spurts."
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With the contest knotted at 1-1 after two periods, Nielsen tipped home a point shot from Mark Streit 55 seconds into the third with the Islanders on the man advantage.
However, Kostopoulos finished off a 2-on-1 when he took a feed from Andrei Markov and put it home to tie things at 2-2 at 9:14. There was no further scoring and the game went into overtime.
Plekanec's power-play goal on a wrist shot from the right circle 5:04 into the opening period gave Montreal the early edge. However, Iggulden tied things with 8:27 left in the first.
