Islanders 2, Sharks 1 (OT): Horvat winner keeps Isles perfect in overtime

Bo Horvat scored with a nifty backhand on a breakaway as the Islanders continued their insane overtime record (9-0) and salvaged a win from their California swing, defeating the San Jose Sharks, 2-1.

Brayden Schenn made his Islanders debut and was a presence for both the regulation goal for and against, settling in next to Ondrej Palat and the center he’s temporarily bumped to wing, Cal Ritchie. Wearing the #10 ceded to him by new #92 Simon Holmstrom, Schenn was credited with winning 6 of his 14 faceoffs, a blocked shot and a check in 17:26 of ice time.

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The first two periods were not super eventful, though that in itself is a big improvement over the previous two games. There were a few good saves from both star goalies. Tony DeAngelo broke the ice with a shot through traffic midway through the first period. The Isles were victimized by super sophomore Macklin Celebrini finding space just 33 seconds into the second period to tie it at 1-1.

The rest of the second was a standstill, but the Islanders came out with real jump in the third and logged 11 of the first 13 shots. They couldn’t convert though, and every Celebrini rush provided a scare, just as every Matthew Schaefer counter doused the flame.

With time winding down, the Islanders were perhaps gifted with a power play with under four minutes in regulation, when noted pest(ilence) Kiefer Sherwood took a run at Mat Barzal on the Isles forward’s way to the bench. Barzal got a crosscheck back at him, but perhaps Sherwood’s reputation and prior behavior earned him the only call.

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As they always do, however, the Isles completely wasted that power play. There was a TV timeout, and Patrick Roy started the second unit, which promptly skated in offside to burn their 30 seconds.

And worse, the officials gave the Sharks a chance of their own when Pelech held Sherwood’s arm on a counterattack after J-G Pageau failed to get the puck in at the Sharks blueline. The Sharks spent the final 1:28 of regulation on the power play and got a couple of golden chances that required five-star saves from Sorokin.

The power play carried into overtime for about 30 seconds of 4-on-3, but the Isles killed that off with some great anticipatory interceptions by Schaefer.

Horvat’s winner came when things were back to 3-on-3 with a great threaded feed from Schaefer, his 26th assist of the year. He got a step around all three Sharks and slipped a backhand through Yaroslav Askarov’s wickets, which proved a better approach than shooting him in the mask.