You couldn't blame the New York Islanders for having a horrible feeling of deja vu in the third period of Monday night's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. For the second straight contest, the Isles watched a three-goal lead slip away in the final 20 minutes of play. Saturday, the Canadiens came all the way back from a 4-1 deficit to defeat New York 5-4 in regulation. Against Columbus, a 3-0 lead vanished in less than eight minutes and the Blue Jackets forced overtime.

This time, the Islanders found a way to win. Chris Campoli's second tally of the game at the 3:13 mark of the extra session gave the Islanders a 4-3 win and ended their six-game losing streak (0-5-1).

Campoli actually scored twice with the first goal going out of the net so quickly that play was allowed to continue. The Isles' defenseman got the puck back a few seconds later and deposited it behind Columbus' goalie, Fredrik Norrena for a second time to remove all doubts. Replays later confirmed that the first shot went in and that was counted as the game-winner.

"The first one went in. I was pretty sure it went in when I shot it," Campoli explained after the game. "I saw it go inside the post so I was confident. But the puck ended up on my stick again with an open net so I thought I might as well put it in for sure."

After a nondescript first period by both teams, the Islanders came out strong to start the second period. Trent Hunter made a strong play behind the Columbus net and stole the puck from Jackets' defenseman Christian Backman before centering the puck to Richard Park. Park batted the puck out of mid-air on his backhand to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead just 3:08 into the second stanza.

Park set up Bill Guerin for New York's second goal midway through the period when cleared the puck up ice at the end of a penalty kill and found Guerin streaking down the right side. Guerin faked and Norrena went down before the Islander captain deposited the puck into the empty net.

Campoli made it 3-0 Islanders at the 14:15 mark with a shorthanded goal although New York actually had five skaters on the ice after a delayed penalty was called against Backman for tripping Frans Nielsen. The puck came back to Campoli after a mad scramble in front of the crease and he lifted the puck into the back of the goal.

Marc Methot and R.J. Umberger were the key players in Columbus' third period comeback. Methot scored on his own rebound of a shot from behind the net. His first attempt to bank the puck in off Isles' goalie Joey MacDonald failed but nobody gained clean possession of the puck before Methot banged the rebound in behind MacDonald to get the Blue Jackets on the board.

Umberger's first goal came just 1:12 later on the power play while his second goal came with 8:58 left in regulation time after Bruno Gervais' clearing attempt hit Jon Sim and came back to Umberger who wristed the puck home. The Islanders managed to regain their composure and dominated play in overtime, taking four shots on goal while holding Columbus without a shot.

Both of these struggling teams will try to build on this performance. The Blue Jackets tried to take solace in the comeback that earned them a point. "The biggest thing we did was outwork them," Rick Nash said. "It showed we have a lot of character and we don’t give up."

Isles' coach Scott Gordon was relieved his team finally earned a win. "We can't beat ourselves up here," Gordon said. "We can yell and scream at each other, but at the end of the day, we have to put things in the past and figure out ways to be successful in the future. Tonight wasn't the optimal way of doing it, but they found a way."

Guerin also tried to emphasize the positives after the win. "At the time it’s tough, I’m not going to lie to you. It’s kind of like, ‘Here we go again.’ But then you get the win in overtime. Out of the last six periods of hockey, we’ve played four really good periods. We're gaining experience as we go along."

The Islanders won't have much time to savor their victory. They travel to Madison Square Garden to meet the Rangers on Tuesday night. Columbus returns home to host Edmonton on Wednesday.

NOTES

Sean Bergenheim was scratched for the Islanders due to an illness and Jeff Tambellini replaced him, returning to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the last two games.

Fredrik Modin returned to the Blue Jackets lineup after missing the previous six games due to a groin injury. Modin finished with one assist and five shots on goal which all came in the first period. Rostislav Klesla was out of action for Columbus with an undisclosed injury.

Isles' goalie Joey MacDonald earned his first NHL assist on Guerin's goal in the second period. The goal extended Guerin's goal scoring streak to three consecutive games.