Calgary Flames left wing Johnny Gaudreau (13) reacts after scoring an empty-net goal against the New York Islanders in the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021, in Elmont, N.Y.Adam Hunger/The Associated Press
Andrew Mangiapane scored a pair of redirected power play goals Saturday night as the visiting Calgary Flames spoiled the New York Islanders’ long-awaited debut at UBS Arena by earning a 5-2 win in Elmont, N.Y.
Brad Richardson scored in the first period and Trevor Lewis and Johnny Gaudreau each added empty-netters in the third for the Flames, who have a five-game point streak (3-0-2). Noah Hanifin assisted on both of Mangiapane’s goals.
Goalie Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves.
Brock Nelson scored both goals for the undermanned Islanders, who have six players in COVID-19 protocols. New York, which opened the season with a 13-game road trip as construction was completed at UBS Arena, has lost five straight.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov recorded 26 saves.
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Richardson became the second Flames player to score the first goal in an Islanders home arena by pouncing on a Matt Martin turnover deep in New York’s zone and scoring an unassisted goal just 4:05 into the first.
Morris Stefaniw scored the first goal in Flames history at Nassau Coliseum Oct. 7, 1972, when the then-Atlanta Flames beat the Islanders 3-2.
Hanifin and Mangiapane teamed up for their first power play tally a little more than nine minutes later, when Mangiapane got his stick down in the middle of the right faceoff circle and redirected the puck past Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson and Flames center Elias Lindholm, who was screening Varlamov, with 6:42 left.
Nelson scored the Islanders’ milestone goal in unusual fashion in the final minute of the first. Nelson and his teammates began celebrating after his whirling shot from just in front of the crease banged off the back of the net with 23 seconds left. But officials waved it off and let play continue until a stoppage in the final seconds, after which the goal was reviewed and allowed.
Hanifin and Mangiapane combined again 6:43 into the second, when Mangiapane redirected Hanifin’s shot from the blue line.
The Islanders outshot the Flames 14-7 in the third and pulled within a goal at the 1:49 mark, when Nelson pounced on a puck that bounced off the stick of Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov in front of the crease and beat Markstrom. But Lewis scored with 1:15 left and Gaudreau added his empty-netter with 37.9 seconds remaining.