Islanders defeat Golden Knights in OT on Pageau's short-handed goal

LAS VEGAS -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored a short-handed goal at 3:02 of overtime to give the New York Islanders a 4-3 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Pageau's goal came just eight seconds after the Islanders were assessed a minor for too many men on the ice. He won a defensive-zone face-off to himself along the right boards, skated up the ice against Mitch Marner, and roofed a shot over Akira Schmid's blocker from the top of the right circle.

“I just took him 1-on-1 and took a chance on the shot, and I guess that's what you do in Vegas, right? Take a chance and play the odds and put the puck on net, and it went in,” Pageau said. “So, got the two points. We got a game tomorrow (at the Utah Mammoth), so we want to go back tomorrow and play the same way."

Mathew Barzal got the Islanders to overtime by tying it 3-3 at 17:23 of the third period. With Ilya Sorokin on the bench for an extra attacker, Barzal took a short pass from Matthew Schaefer and scored with a one-timer from the top of the left circle.

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

Schaefer had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Drouin and Bo Horvat each had two assists for the Islanders (9-6-2), who have won the first three games of a seven-game road trip. Sorokin made 26 saves.

"Up 2-0 and [the Golden Knights] score at the end of the second and tie the game, and then they score another one right after to make it a 3-2 game,” New York coach Patrick Roy said. “We had a huge kill because of the challenge and score on an empty net and then short-handed. I don't think you see that very, very often between you and I. So, yeah, resilient."

Shea Theodore, Tomas Hertl and Reilly Smith scored, and Schmid made 20 saves for the Golden Knights (7-4-5), who went 1-3-2 on a six-game homestand.

“I think we are the better team. Sometimes that’s just how it happens," Smith said. "It seems like it’s happening to us a lot lately. So, it’s hard to come back and win. We’re putting ourselves in that position pretty often right now. So, we’ve got to figure that out.”

Emil Heineman gave New York a 1-0 lead at 14:03 of the first period. He took a backhand cross-ice pass from Horvat, skated to the top of the right circle, and scored with a wrist shot underneath Schmid’s blocker.

Schaefer made it 2-0 at 17:59, scoring a power-play goal with a point shot through a screen.

Theodore cut it to 2-1 at 18:56 of the second period. He got the puck at the right point, worked his way through Heineman and Ryan Pulock in the right circle and continued toward the net, where he moved the puck to his forehand before stuffing a shot in past Sorokin's right pad at the left post.

“Goals aren’t coming easily, especially far away from the net,” Smith said. “So, you just have to grind your way kind of through and find opportunities in the paint.”

Hertl tied the game 2-2 during a delayed penalty at 8:23 of the third period. He quickly buried a rebound five-hole on Sorokin after Jeremy Lauzon's initial one-timer from the low slot was stopped.

Smith then gave the Golden Knights a 3-2 lead at 10:45, getting a loose puck along the goal line and lifting a shot over the left pad of a sprawled Sorokin. Roy challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the call was confirmed after a video review.

“I’d say closing out games has been a strength for us, to be honest,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Tonight we didn’t get it done. So, I would say where we failed is we didn’t extend the lead on their challenge. On the power play, we had the chance to extend the lead, but we didn’t generate much and actually gave up a 2-on-1.

“They made a play with the goalie out. We’ll look at it.”

NOTES: Sorokin's win was his 131st in the NHL, passing Rick DiPietro for third in Islanders history. ... Horvat extended his point steak to seven games (six goals, five assists). ... Barzal extended his point streak to five games (two goals, three assists). ... Golden Knights forward Braeden Bowman had four shots in 16:45 of ice time in his NHL debut.