Devon Toews scores first NHL goal, Islanders defeat Blackhawks

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Devon Toews scored his first NHL goal 1:48 into overtime, and the New York Islanders won their fifth straight game, 3-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday.

Toews, playing his fifth NHL game, scored on his own rebound after one-timing Josh Bailey's pass from the right circle.
Mathew Barzal scored two goals, and Robin Lehner made 19 saves for New York (22-13-4), which has won eight of its past nine games.
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"That's probably as good as it gets, for the most part," said Toews, who was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League on Dec. 19. "It feels good to help contribute to the win, and scoring an OT winner, it's pretty cool."
The Islanders have yet to lose since the 24-year-old defenseman made his NHL debut Dec. 23.
"He's played well," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "He's played with a lot of poise. His skating allows us to transport the puck out of danger. He's joining the play at the right times. He's given us another option with some of the breakouts, those type of things. He's been solid. That's why we're playing him, and we're playing him a lot.
"I'm real happy for him. Anytime you get your first NHL goal, that's pretty special."

Dominik Kahun and Patrick Kane scored, and Collin Delia made 47 saves, including 18 in the third period, for Chicago (15-21-7), which had won five of seven. The Blackhawks were outshot 50-21.
"We got some good goaltending and found a way to score on the power play, got ourselves to overtime," Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We could've gotten two (points), but that type of performance probably won't produce points over time, so we'll have to be better."
Kahun gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 3:05 of the first period when he backhanded Brandon Saad's rebound past Lehner for his sixth goal of the season.
Barzal scored his seventh goal in the past six games with a shot from the left face-off circle at 6:47 to tie it 1-1.
New York outshot Chicago 14-3 in the first period.
"I thought Mat was really good," Trotz said. "He managed the puck really well, he was challenging seams, he was taking ice that was presented, he was going at people. I thought it was a pretty complete game."

The Islanders had a goal taken away at 13:40 of the second period when it was ruled that Cal Clutterbuck deflected Matt Martin's rebound into the net with a high stick.
Barzal scored his second of the game on a power play at 18:56 of the second period. Shortly after the Islanders were awarded their first man-advantage, Nick Leddy's shot was redirected in front and trickled to Barzal near the left goal post, where he quickly one-timed it past Delia to give New York a 2-1 lead.
"I'm just playing with detail," said Barzal, who has eight goals and three assists during a six-game point streak and was named to the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game on Wednesday. "I've kind of been focusing on that a little more, and obviously it's been paying off a little bit here."
Kane tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 5:01 of the third period from the right circle despite breaking his stick on a one-timer. It was his 23rd of the season and sixth in his past four games.
"He fans on the puck and it just goes up and over," said Lehner, who has won six straight games and has allowed 10 goals in his past nine. "It happens. But I think we stuck with it. We didn't panic, we didn't change from our game plan. I think we took it to them for the rest of the period, so that's great to see."

They said it

"We had 50 shots against so pretty impressive effort by him tonight. Obviously we didn't play very well tonight; that was pretty evident. I think we'd be happy with taking a point, especially when you play like that." -- Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane on goalie Collin Delia
"He's been a big piece the last five games. He's come up and played awesome. We're fortunate enough for him to come up and play so well. He's obviously added another weapon back there, so he's been great for us. Obviously a super-cool moment for him to get it in overtime." -- Islanders center Mathew Barzal on Devon Toews

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Need to know

Delia is 3-0-1 and has a .952 save percentage in his first four starts this season. … Kahun has scored in back-to-back games. … Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews has a five-game point streak (six assists) and defenseman Erik Gustafsson has an assist in four straight. … New York had a season-high 50 shots on goal; each player had at least one. … Islanders forward Tom Kuhnhackl played for the second time since Dec. 6. He had one shot in 9:16.

What's next

Blackhawks: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Islanders: At the St. Louis Blues on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, MSG+, NHL.TV)