National Hockey League
NY Islanders 4, Toronto 3
When: 7:00 PM ET, Monday, December 11, 2023
Where: UBS Arena, Elmont, New York
Referees: Ghislain Hebert, Chris Lee
Linesmen: Ryan Jackson, Andrew Smith
Attendance: 17255

Bo Horvat scored 46 seconds into overtime on Monday night for the New York Islanders, who beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in Elmont, N.Y.

Horvat's game-winner came just after John Tavares, who played his first nine seasons with the Islanders, collected his 1,000th career point by assisting on Morgan Rielly's goal with 6.4 seconds left in regulation. Tavares is the 98th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points.

Tavares, who also scored Toronto's second goal, was booed loudly as a note about his achievement aired on the scoreboard.

Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas scored in the first and Kyle Palmieri scored in the second for the Islanders, who have collected points in 12 of their past 13 games (8-1-4). Nelson and Palmieri each logged an assist, Noah Dobson had three assists and New York goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 37 saves.

Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs, who lost for the second time in six games (4-0-2). William Nylander notched two assists, and Toronto goalie Ilya Samsonov recorded 25 saves.

A slashing penalty on Robert Bortuzzo generated the power play that led to the Maple Leafs opening the scoring at the 5:50 mark of the first.

Matthews began a tic-tac-toe sequence by passing to Nylander, who was next to Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield at the right side of the net. Nylander passed to Mitchell Marner, who immediately dished to Matthews, and the center flicked a shot beyond the stick of Alexander Romanov and over Sorokin's glove shoulder.

The Islanders tied the score just 3:30 later. Nelson fired a pass off the far boards to begin a sequence that ended with him taking a pass from Palmieri, with Nelson whirling and firing a shot past Samsonov from the upper left faceoff circle.

An end-to-end rush led to the Islanders' go-ahead goal with 1:27 remaining in the first. Hudson Fasching was surrounded behind the Maple Leafs' net by Rielly and Jake McCabe but managed to pass to Cal Clutterbuck, whose backhander into the crease glanced off the stick of Marner and to Cizikas, who beat Samsonov with a point-blank backhander.

Palmieri scored just 1:10 into the second before Tavares cut the Islanders' lead in half at 7:43 of the period by redirecting Conor Timmins' shot.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Toronto   NY Islanders
John Tavares 2 Points Noah Dobson 3
John Tavares 1 Goals Brock Nelson 1
William Nylander 2 Assists Noah Dobson 3
Auston Matthews 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Ilya Samsonov .862 Save Percentage Ilya Sorokin .925
Ilya Samsonov 25 Saves Ilya Sorokin 37
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Toronto 40 3 1-1 1-1 2 30
NY Islanders 29 4 0-1 0-1 2 26
Upcoming Games
  • NY Islanders will play their next game at home against Anaheim. The Islanders have a W/L % of .583 after a win and .400 after a loss.
  • Toronto will play their next game on the road against NY Rangers. The Maple Leafs have a W/L % of .571 after a win and .545 after a loss.