WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- There are bad bounces and then there's what happened to Nikolaj Ehlers Thursday night.

The Winnipeg Jets rookie just missed giving his team a rare come-from-behind win -- in overtime, no less -- on a two-on-one against the New York Islanders, only to back check on the ensuing rush and have Frans Nielsen's wild shot hit him in the face and land on Kyle Okposo's stick.

The Islanders right winger was standing in the slot and with an unsuspecting Michael Hutchinson moving to his right in the Jets' goal, deposited the puck in a gaping net to give the Islanders a 4-3 victory.

"I'll take 'em anyway I can get 'em," Okposo said sheepishly. "I haven't scored in a while. We broke up the play (in our own end) and I tried to go to the net and got a lucky bounce off Ehlers' face and had a wide open net."

Okposo briefly raised his hand in celebration but upon seeing Ehlers writhing in pain, quickly waved to the Jets bench to send their trainers on to the ice.

Okposo and several of his teammates waited until Ehlers made it to his feet before making their way to the bench.

"It's a highly unusual play that ends up being the game-winner," said Jets coach Paul Maurice. "I think Nik's going to be fine. We'll check him tomorrow."

The Jets were less than 30 seconds away from securing a rare home win -- they're 2-10-1 at the MTS Centre in 2016 -- after Mark Scheifele found himself alone in the high slot and wristed home his second goal of the game and 17th of the season with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.

But the Islanders pulled Thomas Greiss and with 28 ticks on the clock, Anders Lee tipped home a point shot from Nick Leddy past Hutchinson to send the game into the extra frame.

Hutchinson said the loss was particularly frustrating because he felt his teammates carried the balance of play in the third period.

"To have the lead that close to the end and for them to score, and then in overtime for a goal to go in like that, it's unfortunate. Especially when you see one of our good, young players take the puck right in the face there. You never like to see that happen," he said.

Islanders coach Jack Capuano, who celebrated his 200th career victory with the win, noted there are no pictures on the scoreboard and he's quite content to have 10 points after six games of a seven-game road trip.

"These are good teams we're playing. (The Jets) are at home in front of their fans and their great atmosphere. You've got to find a way to win. It's not always going to be pretty and sexy," he said.

Capuano was happy to see his newest recruit, center Shane Prince, who was acquired from the Ottawa Senators before the trade deadline, score his first goal in Islander colors.

Prince gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 8:32 of the third period after knocking the puck out of the air, corralling it as he slipped by Dustin Byfuglien and squeezing a wrist shot between Hutchinson's pads for his fourth of the season.

"It's always good to get the first one. For his first game, he's probably really nervous. He got in late, he didn't get much sleep and he's still learning out systems. He played well," he said.

Prince admitted the last 48 hours have been a whirlwind.

"My head has been spinning a bit. Your whole life changes, all the people you're with all the time change. Thankfully, we've got a great group of guys here who have welcomed me in and made me as comfortable as possible," he said.

The play of the game belonged to Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic.

Venturing deep into Jets territory early in the second period with his team trailing 1-0, the 25-year-old whipped a seeing-eye backhand pass just as he was being pinned to the boards to Calvin de Haan in the deep slot, whose shot trickled through Hutchinson.

The Jets opened the scoring at 16:13 of the first period when Scheifele tapped home his 16th of the season on a feed from Mathieu Perreault for a rare power-play goal. The Jets have been at or near the bottom of the league with the man advantage virtually all season.

With the win, the Islanders improved to 35-20-7. The Jets, meanwhile, continued their free-fall out of the playoff race, falling to 26-32-5.

NOTES: The Islanders played the sixth game of a seven-game road trip. They are 5-1-0 thus far, including a 3-2 victory in Vancouver on Tuesday. ... Since the Jets relocated to Winnipeg nearly five years ago, the Islanders are 6-0-1 at the MTS Centre. ... Islanders D Travis Harmonic, who grew up in St. Malo, Manitoba, which is an hour south of Winnipeg, generated headlines earlier this season when he said he requested a trade to be closer to home for an undisclosed family reason. It is widely believed the Jets are at the top of his list. ... The Jets' scratches included RW Matt Halischuk and C Bryan Little, who is out for the season with a broken bone in his back. ... Scratches for the Islanders were RW Steve Bernier, LW Eric Boulton, D Marek Zidlicky, D Brian Strait and G Jean-Francois Berube.