Tuesday, January 8, 2019 07:00 PM (ET)

Williams, Slavin score late as Hurricanes edge Isles

Field Level Media
Jan 8, 2019

Justin Williams scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:42 left Tuesday night for the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, who remained red hot by edging the surging New York Islanders 4-3 in Uniondale, N.Y.

Williams' backhand past Thomas Greiss capped the Hurricanes' first shift after the Islanders' third and final empty power play of the evening.

Saku Maenalanen scored his first NHL goal and Greg McKegg also scored in the first period for the Hurricanes, who have won five straight. Jaccob Slavin added what proved to be the winning goal by scoring on the power play with 1:07 left in the game. Carolina goalie Curtis McElhinney made 28 saves.

Brock Nelson scored twice, including with 58.2 seconds left in the third, for the Islanders, who had their six-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-1-1 in five games this season at the Coliseum. Devon Toews also scored in the third period for New York.

Greiss, who won his first three starts against the Hurricanes this season, recorded 20 saves.

The teams combined for three goals in a span of just over six minutes late in the first period.

A Hurricanes turnover led to Nelson's first goal with 6:18 left. Justin Faulk's pass off the boards deep in the Carolina zone was picked off by Nelson, who descended upon McElhinney and fired a shot between his legs.

The Hurricanes needed just 88 seconds to tie the score. Left winger Warren Foegele won a battle for the puck in a corner with Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk and passed to Victor Rask, who chipped a pass into the crease toward Maenalanen. The rookie batted down the puck, which bounced on the ice and trickled past Greiss for his first goal in five NHL games.

An Islanders turnover resulted in the Hurricanes taking the lead in the waning moments of the period.

Mathew Barzal lost the puck, and Carolina defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk cleared the puck deep into the New York zone. Micheal Ferland fired a shot toward Greiss, and it ticked off the stick of McKegg, off the crossbar and into the net with six seconds remaining.

The Islanders briefly thought they'd tied the score 2:40 into the second period, but Jordan Eberle's goal was waved off on review on an offside call on New York.

There was no disputing the equalizer by Toews 4:50 into the third, when his shot from just inside the blue line sailed past McElhinney, who was screened by Nelson and Hurricanes center Lucas Wallmark.

--Field Level Media

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