VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ For more than a period on Monday night, it was difficult to tell that the New York Islanders were a struggling team in danger of falling out of playoff contention with more than a month left in the regular season.
They dominated the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena and appeared poised to end a maddening losing streak.
Then, poof, they returned to form, watching the Canucks score three goals in a row to take a one-goal lead. The Islanders tied it with 1:04 left to salvage a point but lost in overtime, 4-3. It was their seventh straight loss, but the point they gained put them four points behind Columbus for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Brendan Leipsic won it with 2:13 remaining in overtime when Anthony Beauvillier lost his balance and the puck. Leipsic took the puck away from the fallen Beauvillier and beat Jaroslav Halak.
The Canucks went ahead 3-2 with 9:29 remaining in the third period when Jake Virtanen scored off a feed from Leipsic on a two-on-one rush. The puck eluded the Islanders' Adam Pelech near the point and the Canucks were off.
With 1:59 left, Leipsic was penalized, giving the Islanders a chance to pull Halak with about 1:25 left and create a six-on-four advantage in skaters.
Jordan Eberle scored on the deflection of a shot by John Tavares to tie it at 4-4 with 1:04 remaining.
Brock Boeser, the Canucks' rookie sensation, had to be helped off the ice with 27 seconds remaining in regulation time after he ran into the open door of the team bench with his back after being hit by the Islanders' Cal Clutterbuck.
Before the game, Mathew Barzal was given the honor of a couple of solo warmup laps to celebrate his first NHL game near where he grew up.
Barzal was among the starters, as was Boeser, his fellow Calder Trophy candidate. But at times Barzal seemed too hyped up. Twice in the first period he had bad giveaways; he also was called for a slashing penalty.
But overall the Islanders dominated, at one point compiling an 11-2 edge in shots on goal and finishing the period with a 15-6 advantage.
The Islanders nearly took the early lead on an impressive power play fueled by Barzal and Tavares, but they failed to score.
Soon, though, they did, on a play made possible by a long shot by Nick Leddy that Josh Bailey easily put in at 9:51 after a rebound off Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom's leg pad.
The Islanders made it 2-0 at 2:59 of the second period when Tavares ripped a shot over Markstrom from the right circle. Barzal set up the play with a cross-ice pass that Thomas Hickey deflected toward Tavares. It was Barzal's 50th assist of the season.
Vancouver trimmed the Islanders' lead to 2-1 at 14:25 of the second when Leipsic backhanded a rebound past Halak. It was Leipsic's first goal as a Canuck.
It was not long before the Canucks tied it. At 15:59, Darren Archibald was granted a penalty shot when Johnny Boychuk impeded him as he came in alone on a partial breakaway. Archibald capitalized, beating Halak cleanly.
The Canucks had the better of the play early in the third. Archibald had a good chance about five minutes in, but Halak got a piece of it before it trickled behind him away from the goal mouth.
