Maple Leafs captain John Tavares records 1,000th career point against Islanders

Bo Horvat scored 46 seconds into overtime as the New York Islanders spoiled a milestone night for their former captain John Tavares, who recorded a goal and an assist for the Toronto Maple Leafs to reach 1,000 career points.

Tavares became the 98th player in NHL history to hit the 1,000-points mark (435 goals, 565 assists) on the play.

“Happy that it came in a really good moment for the team and it’s been a great ride so far, great journey,” Tavares said. “Obviously you want to celebrate in a win, but very proud of it.

“And obviously, for me, the uniqueness of doing it where I played my first nine years of my career and a big part of who I am. And, the way this place impacted me it was tremendous. Really unique and cool to do it here. You know, place means a lot.”

Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri each had a goal and an assist, and Casey Cizikas also scored to help the Islanders win their third straight game. Noah Dobson had three assists and Ilya Sorokin finished with 36 saves.

In the extra period, Horvat scored on a feed from Mathew Barzal to push the Islanders ahead of Philadelphia into second place in the Metropolitan Division — trailing only the rival New York Rangers.

“You are trying to skate as hard as you can to make a clear cut two-on-one,” Horvat said after the Islanders improved to 8-1-2 in their last 11 games. “With a saucer pass like that you don’t want to just whack at it and hope for the best. You kind of got to let it sit a little bit and pick your spot. You are trying to think of all that in a matter of half a second and thankfully it worked.”

The Islanders led 3-1 before Tavares pulled the Maple Leafs within one as he redirected a shot from defenceman Conor Timmins at 7:43 of the second period.

Rielly tied it with seven seconds remaining in regulation. Nylander fired a puck toward the net that bounced off Tavares and Rielly controlled the loose puck.

“It hurts but at the same time you’re sitting there with so little time left and you’re banking one [point],” Nelson said of the team’s mindset following the late equalizer.

Matthews had a power-play goal to open the scoring at 5:50 of the first period. He deftly received a quick pass from Mitch Marner on his backhand and quickly fired the puck with his forehand past Sorokin into the top corner of the net for his 19th.

Nelson tied it at 9:20 of the first with his 12th. Palmieri saw Nelson darting toward an open area in the slot and slid a backhand pass to set up the one-timer.

Cizikas fought off a check from Maple Leafs forward Max Domi and roofed a backhand past Samsonov to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead with 1:27 remaining in the opening period.