NHL

Islanders deal MacDonald to Flyers, then win

The Islanders executed the first major step of their trade-deadline plan Tuesday afternoon when they sent defenseman Andrew MacDonald to the Flyers in exchange for a 2015 second-round pick, a 2014 third-round pick, and forward prospect Matt Mangene.

After the deal was finalized, Michael Grabner scored at 3:53 of overtime to give the Islanders a 3-2 triumph over the Jets in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Anders Nilsson made 36 saves in nets for the Isles.

MacDonald, 27, was leading the team with just over 25 minutes of ice time per game, and was the runaway leader in the league with 198 blocked shots. The career Islander was drafted by the organization in the sixth round (160th overall) of the 2006 draft, and is a pending unrestricted free agent making just $550,000 this season. He had recently turned down general manager Garth Snow’s contract offer of four years at $16 million, and since that time has been shopped around the league in hopes of bringing back a first-round pick.

This return is at least in part recouping what Snow had sent to the Sabres in late October as part of a deal that brought the Islanders Thomas Vanek, shipping Buffalo a conditional first-round pick, a second-rounder in 2015 and another free agent-to-be, forward Matt Moulson.

Vanek, 30, is an elite scorer dead-set on becoming a free agent on July 1 and whom Snow is now trying to trade again. With many offers being discussed — the top suitors are the Ducks, Kings and Penguins — there was no deal in place for Vanek by Tuesday afternoon. The trade deadline is Wednesday at 3 p.m.

The hope for Snow is Vanek can at least bring back that first-round pick he had sent the Sabres, as well as another high-level pick and/or prospect. The Islanders went into Tuesday night’s game in Winnipeg 14 points out of a playoff spot with six teams to leapfrog in the final 19 games, and were without captain and reigning Hart Trophy finalist John Tavares, out the rest of the season with a knee injury suffered in the Olympics.

Besides the picks coming back in the MacDonald deal, the Islanders are getting Mangene, an undrafted forward from Manorville, N.Y., in Suffolk County, who will turn 25 on March 12. He After coming out of the University of Maine — a breeding ground for people in the Islanders organization, and Snow’s alma mater — Mangene had played parts of the past two seasons in the ECHL and AHL. The Islanders hope the 5-foot-11, 190-pounder can mature into a good penalty killer.