Mika Zibanejad scored 28 seconds into overtime Tuesday night for the visiting New York Rangers, who remained red hot with a spirited 4-3 win over the New York Islanders in Uniondale, N.Y.
Zibanejad intercepted a clearing pass and fired a shot past Semyon Varlamov to give the Rangers their 11th win in 14 games and pull them within five points of the Islanders in the Eastern Conference standings.
Artemi Panarin, Greg McKegg and Brett Howden also scored for the Rangers. Goalie Alexandar Georgiev made 42 saves.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who was acquired from the Ottawa Senators on Monday, Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders, who had their two-game winning streak snapped. Varlamov recorded 24 saves.
The Rangers were outshot 15-7 in the first period but scored first when Panarin took a cross-ice pass from Ryan Lindgren and fired the shot past the sprawling Varlamov, who was stuck leaning to his right with 2:58 left.
The Rangers doubled their lead 7:48 into the second, when McKegg, battling for position in front of Varlamov with the Islanders' Nelson and Ryan Pulock, got a stick on a shot from just in front of the blue line by Brendan Lemieux.
Pageau began to make his Islanders debut a memorable one by scoring with 2:56 left in the second. Pulock's shot sailed over the net and bounced off the boards, but Georgiev thought the puck was to his left when it bounced to his right and directly to Pageau, who backhanded the rebound into the net with Georgiev still gazing in the other direction.
Pageau fought the Rangers' Jacob Trouba early in the third after Trouba leveled Michael Dal Colle in the open ice. Pageau received a game misconduct as well as a pat on the backside from teammate Johnny Boychuk as he headed off the ice.
The Rangers extended their lead to two goals again at the 9:34 mark, when Howden scored in front.
The Islanders appeared to get within a goal with 7:44 left, but Lee's tally was waved off because he interfered with Georgiev. Eberle scored on the backhand to officially close the gap to 3-2 with 5:37 left.
With Varlamov pulled for the extra attacker, the Islanders peppered Georgiev before Nelson tied the game with 17.9 seconds remaining.
--Field Level Media
