Mathew Barzal scored 4:28 into overtime Sunday afternoon and gave the New York Islanders a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals with a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals in Game 3 in Toronto.

Barzal's goal came seconds after Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov turned back a breakaway opportunity and a subsequent putback by Capitals left winger Jakub Vrana.

On the next trip down the ice, Barzal took a pass from Jordan Eberle, swooped in on Capitals goalie Braden Holtby and backhanded a shot into the left corner of the net.

Anders Lee scored in the first period and Varlamov made 22 saves for the Islanders, who are up 3-0 in the first round for the second straight year. They swept the Pittsburgh Penguins last April.

New York, which won just six games combined in February and March before the pandemic shutdown, is 6-1 this month. The Islanders beat the Florida Panthers in a qualifying round series.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored in the second for the Capitals, who now must try to become the fifth team in NHL history to come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a series. Holtby recorded 32 saves.

The Islanders outshot the Capitals 14-6 in the first and took the lead following a frantic sequence with 5:10 left. Holtby turned back a pair of shots by Brock Nelson before the puck skittered near the boards. Lee corralled it and cleared the puck as he was knocked to the ice by Kuznetsov, but the New York captain got up, skated back to the net and tapped his stick several times. Adam Pelech fired a pass through a gaggle of players in the crease and to Lee, who tipped it into the net.

Holtby stopped Jean-Gabriel Pageau on the breakaway a minute before Eberle took a slashing penalty that set up the game-tying goal. Regular Islanders foil Tom Wilson positioned himself in front of Varlamov, who shoved Wilson moments before Kuznetsov's shot sailed over his shoulder.

Varlamov got the best of Wilson twice over the next six-plus minutes to preserve the tie. Wilson had two shots turned back from point-blank range with a little under 13 minutes left. The right winger fired wide of the net on a short-handed opportunity with 8:07 left and failed to put back the rebound seconds later.

The Islanders outshot the Capitals 8-4 during a scoreless third period. New York got just one shot on an early power play -- generated when Wilson was whistled for slashing Pelech at 6:25 -- but nearly snapped the tie following a Washington turnover in the final half-minute, when Holtby swallowed up a shot by Nelson with 24.3 seconds remaining.

--Field Level Media