Ondrej Palat, Victor Eklund and Simon Holmstrom scored first-period goals and the New York Islanders held on for a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night in Elmont, N.Y.
Ilya Sorokin made 15 saves for the Islanders, who have won two straight after alternating wins and losses through the first eight games of the season.
Frank Vatrano and Alex Killorn scored, Leo Carlsson had two assists and Lukas Dostal made 22 saves for the Ducks, who have lost four in a row following a 4-1-0 start to the season.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead at 13:39 of the first period after Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov turned it over in the neutral zone.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau took a return pass from Anthony Duclair on the rush, raced down the right side and centered to Palat, who gathered the puck and beat Dostal.
The Islanders won a battle for the puck in the corner of the Anaheim zone and got it back to Emil Heineman at the right point. He took a wrist shot that Eklund tipped off Dostal before Eklund backhanded the rebound into the net to make it 2-0 at 16:28.
Anaheim answered when Vatrano scored up high with a backhand from in front of the crease off a feed from A.J. Greer to cut it to 2-1 at 17:18 of the first.
The Islanders quickly re-established their two-goal advantage with a power-play goal at 18:44.
Anaheim forward Beckett Sennecke was in the box for hooking Logan Stanley when defenseman Matthew Schaefer took a shot from above the right circle that Holmstrom tipped into the net for a 3-1 lead.
Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, recorded his eighth assist in nine games this season.
That score remained through the second period and into the third before Killorn scored with a one-timer from the left hash marks, with Dostal pulled for the extra skater, to cut it to 3-2 with 2:40 left.
–Field Level Media
