Sam Colangelo scored twice Sunday night for the host Anaheim Ducks, who damaged the New York Islanders’ playoff hopes with a 4-1 win.
Mason McTavish had a goal and helped set up Colangelo’s first of the night with a nifty assist as the Ducks won for just the third time in eight games (3-4-1). Drew Helleson also scored.
Lukas Dostal carried a shutout deep into the third and finished with 31 saves.
Tony DeAngelo scored for the Islanders, who fell for the second time in six games (4-2-0) and remained four points behind in the race for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. New York missed a chance to leapfrog the idle Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins in the wild-card race.
Goalie Marcus Hogberg, who missed the previous 14 games with a finger injury, recorded 24 saves.
The Ducks went ahead late in the first following an impressive sequence deep in the Islanders’ zone. McTavish whirled at the left face-off circle and passed to Cutter Gauthier, who immediately dished to Colangelo. The right winger shuffled the puck until Hogberg slid for a potential save, and then Colangelo flicked a shot over Hogberg’s glove with 2:08 left.
A face-off win by the Ducks led to Helleson’s goal with 5:14 remaining in the second. Helleson’s shot from just in front of the blue line glanced off the side post and past Hogberg, who had teammate Pierre Engvall and Anaheim center Leo Carlsson in his line of vision until just before Helleson fired the puck.
The Ducks extended the lead just 43 seconds into the third. Dostal turned back a short-handed semi-breakaway by Adam Pelech moments before McTavish finished off a 2-on-1 with Carlsson by sending a shot past kneeling Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield and over Hogberg’s stick shoulder
Islanders coach Patrick Roy pulled Hogberg with a little more than 12 minutes left, but Colangelo ended any hopes of a comeback with an empty-netter at the 8:18 mark. New York avoided the shutout when DeAngelo scored with 4:50 remaining.
–Field Level Media
