Pierre Engvall was the hero for the New York Islanders on Monday night, scoring the game-winning goal with 2:02 remaining in the third period to help his team beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2.
It also happened to be Engvall's first game back in Toronto since he was traded to Long Island last season.
“It felt really good,” the 27-year-old admitted afterwards, per NHL.com's Dave McCarthy. “It was a close game all the way through, so to come out of the [NHL All-Star] break with a win, it’s a good feeling for us, really good. It was a great feeling. I haven’t scored for a while, so I’m not going to lie, it felt really good.”
Engvall entered Monday's game with just a single point over his last 19, but scoring the big goal to beat his old team was crucial for New York. And head coach Patrick Roy was happy with his club's effort, especially after blowing a third-period lead.
“What I loved the most is they scored that power-play goal to tie the game and our mindset was, ‘Let’s go get that next one,’ so that pleased me a lot,” Roy reflected, per McCarthy.
“To see our guys stay in the present moment and not change our game because we gave up a goal, it could have hurt us, made it a 2-2 game. But all night we played well defensively, we were quick on them.”
Islanders earn crucial win over John Tavares' Leafs
Engvall scored on a rebound to help the Isles secure the win, shortly after Leafs forward (and former New York captain) John Tavares tied the game on the powerplay with 4:48 remaining.
“I thought we controlled play through major parts of the game and created a lot of good looks,” Toronto's captain explained. “I think we could have made it a little more difficult on Sorokin because I think he was clearly seeing it really well, and obviously he’s a really good goalie.”
JT finished with a goal and an assist in the loss. After losing seven of eight games, Pierre Engvall and the Islanders got back in the win column, improving to 21-17-12 in the process.
New York will now return to Long Island to welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday; the Leafs will host the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
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