Ducks fall again on the road, 3-2 in overtime to the Islanders

Josh Bailey scored 54 seconds into overtime to give the New York Islanders a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in their home opener Sunday night.

Brock Nelson and John Tavares scored for the Islanders and Jaroslav Halak stopped 24 shots to get New York its first win of the season after opening with two road losses.

Cam Fowler and Ryan Getzlaf scored in the third period for the Ducks and John Gibson finished with 27 saves. Anaheim fell to 0-3 on its season-opening, five-game trip.

The Ducks trailed 2-0 in the third before rallying to tie it.

Fowler halved the deficit at 8:31 when his wrist shot deflected off Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey’s skate and over Halak’s shoulder. Then, with the Ducks using six skaters with the goalie pulled, Getzlaf tied it with 1 minute remaining when his one-timer went inside the right post on Halak’s blocker side.

Tavares extended the Islanders’ lead to 2-0 at 7:59 of the third. Cal Clutterbuck broke his stick as he tried to take a shot then knocked the puck back to Tavares, whose first shot was stopped by Gibson. However, the New York captain fired the rebound in for his first goal of the season.

Fowler started the Ducks’ comeback just over 30 seconds later.

The loss left Ducks coach Randy Carlyle still seeking his first win in his second stint in Anaheim. He previously spent six seasons with team, from 2005-11.

After getting outplayed in the opening period, the Ducks were the aggressors in the second. Anaheim had three power plays and outshot New York, 13-5.

Halak, barely tested in the first 20 minutes, had to make several stops in the middle period, including glove saves on Jacob Larsson’s slap shot near the 7-minute mark and Jakob Silfverberg’s wrist shot with about four minutes left.

The Islanders nearly added to their lead with about 8 1/2 minutes left when a shot by Anders Lee hit the left goal post and rolled across the front of the goal line. The horn sounded and several New York players raised their hands but play continued.

The Islanders’ Casey Cizikas hobbled to the bench with about 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the second after blocking a shot by Antoine Vermette, but returned 1:20 later. However, he left the ice about five minutes into the third and went to the dressing room.

The Islanders outshot the Ducks, 16-3, in the first period. Anaheim didn’t get its first shot until Nick Sorenson’s long slap shot from outside the blue line with 5:39 remaining.

Nelson got New York on the scoreboard at 7:47 of the first as he took a pass in front from Chimera, spun around with a defender on him and fired a wrist shot past Gibson. That gave Nelson three points (two goals, one assist) and made him the only Islanders player to have at least a point in each of the first three games.