Simon Holmstrom scored his first NHL hat trick Saturday, and the New York Islanders turned it into a 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. The forward did his damage in the second period, striking at 3:01 and again at 8:28 after New York had already built a two-goal lead.
That made Holmstrom the centerpiece of a night that also featured Bo Horvat’s goal and assist, Matthew Schaefer’s career-high three assists and Matias Maccelli and Kyle Palmieri each adding two assists. The Islanders improved to 9-6-4 and have points in four straight games at 2-0-2, a useful run for a team that entered the night looking to keep pace after a mixed first month.
The opening minutes set the tone. Ben Hutton put the Islanders ahead 1-0 at 1:55 of the first period, with Mathew Barzal assisting in his season debut after recovering from left knee inflammation. Horvat then made it 2-0 on the power play at 1:33 of the second, and even after Nikita Nesterov cut the lead to 2-1 at 2:35, New York answered immediately. Holmstrom’s first goal came 26 seconds later, and his second followed 5 minutes, 27 seconds after that. Mitchell Chaffee then finished a 2-on-1 off a pass from Schaefer to make it 5-1 at 10:28 of the second period.
The Ducks had won five straight before dropping their second in a row, and that swing showed in the middle period when the game got away from them. Cutter Gauthier extended his goal streak to eight games, but Anaheim could not keep up after the Islanders scored four times in the second. Lukas Dostal made 19 saves, Semyon Varlamov stopped 26, and Holmstrom said New York simply got the puck to the right places. The bigger question now is whether this was a one-night burst or the start of a longer surge for a player who had never before filled a hat trick glove.
