Eeli Tolvanen scored with 11.5 seconds left in the third period Thursday night for the visiting Nashville Predators, who overcame a late deficit to edge the New York Islanders, 4-3.
Roman Josi’s shot from just in front of the blue line sailed through a gaggle of players and glanced off Tolvanen before fluttering past Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Ryan Johansen and Colton Sissons scored in the first period and Yakov Trenin scored the tying goal with 7:29 left for the Predators, who have won three straight and four of five. Goalie David Rittich made 18 saves.
Austin Czarnik, Anders Lee and Noah Dobson scored for the Islanders, whose point streak ended at four games. Their losing streak at UBS Arena hit seven games (0-5-2) — the longest arena-opening losing streak by a team at its new home in NHL history.
Varlamov recorded 25 saves.
Czarnik won a faceoff deep in the Islanders zone with Mikael Granlund to begin the end-to-end rush that ended with his first goal in more than two years. Oliver Wahlstrom and Kieffer Bellows exchanged the puck before Wahlstrom dropped a no-look pass to Czarnik, who fired a shot over Rittich’s glove at 6:48.
The goal was Czarnik’s first since Oct. 24, 2019, when he scored for the Calgary Flames against the Florida Panthers.
Turnovers by the Islanders led to a pair of goals by the Predators in an 84-second span late in the first. Luke Kunin stole the puck from Sebastian Aho at the New York blue line and sent an off-balance pass to Johansen, who shoveled the puck into the open left corner of the net with 2:32 left.
Dobson’s pass clipped off the stick of Nick Cousins in the neutral zone to begin a surge by the Predators, who took the lead when Sissons, stationed near where Johansen was for his goal, put back the rebound of Tanner Jeannot’s shot beyond Varlamov’s stick.
The Islanders tied the score with a power play goal just 1:56 into the second. Mathew Barzal’s shot into the crease bounced around off the skate of Lee, who then backhanded the puck past Rittich.
Dobson snapped the tie 5:08 into the third, but the lead lasted just 7:23 before Trenin took a pass from Jeannot and beat Varlamov from point-blank range.
–Field Level Media