Takeaways: Islanders Prevail with Pageau’s Shorthanded Winner in 4-3 OT Victory Over Vegas  

JG Pageau sniped a shorthanded goal in overtime to lift the New York Islanders to a 4-3 OT win over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday night.

Emil Heineman, Matthew Schaefer (PPG) and Mathew Barzal scored in regulation for the Islanders, while the Golden Knights found goals from Shea Theodore, Tomas Hertl and Reilly Smith. Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves on 29 shots in the win, while Akira Schmid made 20 saves in the OT loss for Vegas. The Islanders are 3-0-0 on the seven-game road trip.

The game felt like an emotional rollercoaster, as the Isles had a 2-0 lead before the Golden Knights batted back to make it 3-2, but Barzal’s late goal in the third period set the stage for Pageau to get the job done at the 3:02 mark of the extra frame.

“That’s what you do in Vegas, right? Take a chance, play the odds, put the puck on net and it went in,” Pageau said of his OT winner, taking Mitch Marner one-on-one before beating Schmid from range. “We got the two points, we have a game tomorrow and we want to play the same way.”

The win moved the Islanders (20 points) into the top wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Islanders are 9-3-2 in their last 14 games.

TAKEAWAYS

- Pageau won an important draw in the defensive zone, but instead of clearing it, he carried it and used his shorthanded prowess to bury the game-winner with a snipe eight seconds after the Isles took a penalty for too many men on the ice.

“You’re on the penalty kill and you think you’re in trouble, but [Pageau] scores a massive goal for us,” Barzal said. “What a goal by him, he’s one of the best penalty killers in the league, both offensively and defensively.”

It was just the second shorthanded OT winner in Isles history.

- For the second straight game, the Islanders’ mentality was a resilient one. After parking a late tying goal from New Jersey on Monday to win in OT, the Isles found themselves chasing late in the third, butnever counting themselves out of the game. Down 3-2 in the waning minutes of the third period, Jonathan Drouin sauced a pass to Schaefer from behind the goal line. Schaefer zipped a pass to Barzal, who wound up for a slapshot that beat Schmid with 2:37 left in regulation. The Isles had allowed three straight Golden Knights goals prior to Barzal’s tally. Barzal is now riding a two-game goal streak and a five-game point streak.

"We definitely didn't stop fighting," Schaefer said. "Just from the start, we started out hot. I think we were a better team. Sorokin made a lot of big saves for us, so when you have a goalie like that it definitely helps. We kept fighting."

- The battle-back effort came after the Islanders allowed the Golden Knights to come back from a 2-0 deficit. After the Golden Knights found their first goal at the end of the second period when Theodore skated through the Isles zone and made forehand to backhand move, eventually stuffing the puck past Sorokin, Vegas kept pressing into the third period. Hertl found the tying goal at the 8:23 mark of the third period and Smith scored to take the lead for Vegas for the first time of the game. The Islanders challenged for goalie interference, but the goal stood. Fending off the ensuing penalty after the failed challenge gave the Isles momentum. Roy talked postgame about the confidence he has his team’s penalty kill, which has come up big in key moments of the game.

“We have a lot of trust in the way we’re killing penalties right now,” Roy said. “At the same time, it allows you to take chances, example on that challenge. If you don’t trust, you wouldn’t challenge, but when you believe you’re going to kill it, you’re able to do that.”

- Sorokin is 4-0-1 in his last five starts with all four wins on the road, coming up in big moments for the Islanders. With his 131^st win, Sorokin moved past Rick DiPietro into third place on the team’s all-time wins list.

“Sorokin is playing so well right now,” Roy said. “He’s giving us a chance to be in every game. Since the Washington game, he’s been on a roll, playing really good hockey for us.”

- To build a 2-0 lead early in the game, the Islanders weathered an early storm, down on shots 9-4 before they found a way to grab the game’s first goal. DeAngelo got the puck out of the Islanders zone and chipped a pass to Horvat through the neutral zone. Horvat gloved it and sent a backhand pass right to Heineman, who ripped a shot past Schmid to open the scoring. Schaefer added his fourth power-play goal of the season.

- Heineman is up to seven goals of the season, three shy of his career high of 10 set through 62 games with Montreal last season. His chemistry with Horvat was on full display again, as Horvat notched the primary assist each of Heineman’s last four goals.

- With a two-point performance with a pair of assists, Horvat extended his point streak to seven games with 11 points (6G, 5A) over that stretch.

- Schaefer recorded his third multi-point game of the season. Schaefer has six goals on the season (including four on the power play) and 14 points through his first career 17 games.

NEXT GAME

The Islanders will play the Utah Mammoth in the second half of a back-to-back set on Friday night. Puck drop is set for 9 PM eastern.