Quinn Hughes scored at 2:36 of overtime as the Vancouver Canucks overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the New York Islanders 4-3 on Wednesday night.
J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser eaxh had a goal and two assists, and Filip Hronek also scored for Vancouver, winners of 10 of 12 (10-1-1). Hughes also had two assists and Thatcher Demko stopped 30 shots.
“We believe in ourselves, we think we have a really good team and I think there was a feeling we were going to win that game the entire game,” Hughes said. “Those are the points that are going to matter in March and April.”
Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat and Pierre Engvall scored for New York, and Mathew Barzal had two assists. Ilya Sorokin finished with 39 saves as the Islanders squandered a two-goal lead and lost their sixth straight (0-4-2).
Trailing 3-1, the Canucks pulled within one with 8:57 left in the second as Boeser got a pass from Miller in the slot to cut the Islanders lead back down to one.
New York gave up three power-play goals on six chances and is 11 for 20 on the penalty kill during the losing streak.
“I didn’t like our penalty-killing. I thought we were too passive,” coach Lane Lambert said. “When you are getting scored on, you start to sit back. And that’s what happened a little bit with that, and you can’t take two penalties on the same play.”
In the extra period, Hughes fired a wrist shot past Sorokin for the win.
The Islanders scored first with Engvall shooting five-hole on Demko on a cross-ice feed from Oliver Wahlstrom for a power-play goal 7:30 into the game.
New York increased the lead to 2-0 just 1:22 later with another power-play goal. Demko made the initial save on Nelson, who then scoopthe puck over the sprawling goalie.
“I thought after the first period, they got those two power play goals, we were a little bit sloppy in some parts of our games,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “I thought the mood after the first, I was talking to the coaches, and they were really good. It wasn’t cocky, it was ‘We’re two down but there’s plenty of time left.’”
Miller scored his 10th of the season on the power play at 4:39 of the second period with a one-timer off a pass from Elias Pettersson to pull Vancouver to 2-1.
Horvat, traded from Vancouver to New York on Jan. 30 after nine years with the Canucks, made it 3-1 at 8:33 of the second period on a quick 1-2 with Barzal before finding a way past Demko.
Horvat, making his first visit back in Vancouver since the trade, was honored with a video tribute in the first period.
“It was emotional for me the whole warmup,” he said. “It brought back some memories. and just the whole tribute and everybody the way they reacted, just meant a lot to me. It was pretty special. I had a lot of good times (here), a lot of firsts, and a lot of memories.”
Canucks defenseman Carson Soucy will miss six to eight weeks with a lower body injury after blocking a shot.
