Kyle Palmieri scored his first two goals since returning from a knee injury, including the tiebreaking tally in the third period, as the New York Islanders edged the visiting Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Tuesday night.
The goals were Palmieri’s first since Nov. 18, when he scored 10 days before suffering a season-ending torn left ACL.
The multi-goal game was the first for Palmieri since he scored a pair for the Islanders against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 23, 2024.
Mattias Maccelli scored a goal and added an assist, and Matthew Schaefer collected two assists for the Islanders, who have split their first six games. Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves.
Max Sasson and Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks, who have lost the first four games of their six-game Eastern road trip and five straight overall. Leevi Merilainen recorded 35 saves.
Palmieri and Maccelli scored 53 seconds apart late in the first period.
Matthew Kessel’s shot from the blue line glanced off Palmieri’s stick and floated over Merilainen’s shoulder with 5:03 left in the period.
Maccelli, who spent last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, scored his first goal for the Islanders following a Vancouver turnover. Schaefer intercepted a clearing pass by Canucks defenseman Zeev Buium and dished the puck to Maccelli, who skated into the lower left faceoff circle before beating Merilainen on the stick side at 15:50.
Sasson began the Canucks’ comeback bid 7:52 into the second period. Arshdeep Bains shoveled a pass beyond Tony DeAngelo to Sasson, who swooped between DeAngelo and Kessel and fired a shot under Sorokin’s glove.
Palmieri was called for tripping, setting up Boeser’s game-tying goal with 1:05 left in the second.
Filip Hronek, at the top of the slot, passed to Elias Pettersson, who fed Boeser. The right winger dropped to one knee and fired a shot past Sorokin, who was screened by teammates Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock as well as Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk.
Palmieri redeemed himself by scoring the eventual game-winning goal 5:38 into the third period. Maccelli collected the rebound of Schaefer’s shot and passed to Palmieri, who scored from the high slot with Merilainen screened by Buium.