Simon Holmstrom recorded his first career hat trick to help the visiting New York Islanders pull away for a 6-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.
Ben Hutton, Bo Horvat and Mitchell Chaffee also scored for the Islanders, while Matthew Schaefer recorded three assists and leads the team with 15 on the season.
Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves as New York earned a point for the fourth consecutive game and finished 2-0-1 on a three-game California road trip.
Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier extended his goal streak to eight games and his point streak to 10. His goal streak tied Teemu Selanne’s 1998-99 run for the second longest in franchise history. Selanne also scored in 11 straight games in 1997-98.
Gauthier has scored 15 goals during his current eight-game streak, including three hat tricks.
Nikita Nesterenko also scored for the Ducks, while Lukas Dostal made 19 saves. Anaheim lost its second straight game after a five-game winning streak and saw its run of scoring at least five goals in eight consecutive games come to an end.
Hutton scored on a deflected shot that slipped through Dostal’s legs just 1:55 into the game, and the Islanders held a 1-0 lead through the first period.
Horvat opened the second-period scoring at 1:33 with a slap shot past Dostal for a power-play goal and a 2-0 New York lead. Nesterenko answered for Anaheim at 2:35.
Holmstrom took over from there, scoring at 3:01 and 8:28 of the second period to give the Islanders a 4-1 advantage. Chaffee added another goal two minutes later to make it 5-1.
Gauthier extended his goal streak at 16:37 of the second period, tipping a shot past Varlamov from in front of the crease.
Holmstrom completed his hat trick at 2:41 of the third period off a feed from Victor Eklund.
–Field Level Media
