It was a fairly quiet night in the NHL on Monday with 11 of the 16 goals being scored in Brooklyn.
Sebastian Aho was named the first star of the week, while Mikael Granlund and Peter Budaj rounded out the top three.
Evgeni Malkin is progressing from his lower body injury but will not play on Tuesday. Teammate Carl Hagelin was diagnosed with a concussion and is day-to-day at this time.
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NEW YORK ISLANDERS 6 TORONTO 5 (Overtime)
Brock Nelson’s second of the game was the overtime winner as the New York Islanders prevailed over Toronto 6-5 in a wild game.
Ryan Strome gave the Islanders an early 1-0 lead just 1:23 into the game as Nelson picked up an assist, sending Strome into the clear. His initial shot was turned aside by Frederik Andersen but Strome hopped on the rebound and put it past the Leafs goalkeeper.
But Toronto struck back for a couple of goals just 1:24 apart as Nikita Soshnikov and Auston Matthews (his 24th) gave the Leafs the lead before former Leaf Nikolay Kulemin tied the game at 2 before the end of the first.
Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman gave Toronto a 4-2 lead in the second with Hyman’s goal coming on a shorthanded effort. Nelson, with his first of the game cut the lead to one heading into the third.
Josh Bailey tied the game at 4 with 6:30 to go in the game as Anders Lee and Denis Seidenberg added the assists.
William Nylander became the fifth Maple Leafs rookie to score in the game with only 2:01to go but Andrew Ladd with his 12th of the season sent the game into overtime just 32 seconds later, setting up Nelson’s overtime heroics.
Ladd had a horrible start to the season but has four goals in his last five games and his offense will provide a big boost to the Islanders lineup if he is able to keep up his goal scoring efforts.
Nikita Zaitsev (another Toronto rookie) and Morgan Rielly each had a pair of assists in the loss.
Lee and Bailey also had two assists for New York.
Thomas Greiss made 27 saves in picking up the victory. He is 16-8-3 with a 2.44 GAA and a .921 save percentage.
Frederik Andersen has not played particularly well since the All-Star break as he has given up 19 goals in three-plus games on only 114 shots. Monday night he gave up six on 34 attempts and is 22-11-9 with a 2.81 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
Matt Martin returned to his former home and had five hits along with Zaitsev.
Matthews had five shots on goal for Toronto while Calvin de Haan led both sides with four blocked shots.
ST. LOUIS 2 PHILADELPHIA 0
Carter Hutton picked up his second shutout in his last three starts as he turned away all 26 shots as the Blues knocked off the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0.
It was the second straight game that the Flyers failed to find the back of the net as they dropped a 1-0 overtime decision to Los Angeles Saturday.
Hutton is 8-7-2 with a 2.65 GAA and a .902 save percentage and has outplayed the struggling Jake Allen in the Blues net.
Michal Neuvirth made his third straight start and had only 16 shots directed his way in the loss. He is 8-5-1 this season with a 2.79 GAA and a .893 save percentage.
Paul Stastny provided the Blues the only goal they would need in the second period as St. Louis had only one shot on goal in the first.
Kevin Shattenkirk’s point shot was redirected by Stastny off his skate and the goal stood up.
Kenneth Agostino scored the only goal of the third as he potted his first of the season wristing it into the top corner past Neuvirth. He was sent in all alone by David Perron who picked up the assist while skating to the bench. Agostino was recalled on the weekend when Robby Fabbri went down for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.
Shattenkirk was a plus-two on the night.
Travis Konecny did not play in the third and while GM Ron Hextall said an update will come on Tuesday, he did not reveal what happened.
NEW JERSEY 2 BUFFALO 1
Robin Lehner almost stole one for the Sabres but a couple of power play goals by New Jersey was enough to lead the Devils past Buffalo 2-1.
Lehner stopped 37 shots while counterpart Cory Schneider made 22 saves on 23 shots for the win.
Schneider boosted his record to 17-15-8 this season with a 2.66 GAA and a .912 save percentage. He has played better of late as he has given up only two goals in the last two games, stopping 53 of 55 shots.
Lehner saw his record drop to 13-14-6 with a 2.53 GAA and a .923 save percentage. The Sabres netminder has nice peripherals even if it doesn’t show up in his record.
Adam Henrique scored his 15th of the season as he banked in a shot of Buffalo defenseman Cody Franson and past Lehner to give the Devils a 1-0 lead in the second period.
Tyler Ennis scored his third of the season in the third as he tried to go around the Devils blueliner, spun and put it past a surprised Schneider. Justin Falk, who signed a one-year extension earlier in the day, picked up his fifth assist of the campaign.
But Pavel Zacha would be the hero as he scored his sixth of the season on the power play. It was his first NHL game winner and second point of the night as he set up Henrique.
Mike Cammalleri picked up two assists, giving him seven helpers in his last seven games.
Damon Severson had six shots on goal while Evander Kane had five plus six penalty minutes.
