Simon Holmstrom's late shorthanded goal lifts Islanders past Ducks

Simon Holmstrom scored a short-handed goal with 1:33 left Wednesday night for the host New York Islanders, who continued surging with a 4-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks in Elmont, N.Y.

Robert Bortuzzo was whistled for tripping with 1:45 remaining, but the Islanders' Jean-Gabriel Pageau won the faceoff against Alex Killorn. Pageau skated into the neutral zone and dished to Holmstrom, who skated past Max Jones and tucked a shot into the upper left corner of the net.

The short-handed goal was the NHL-leading fourth of the season for Holmstrom.

Kyle Palmieri and Casey Cizikas scored in the second before Mathew Barzal evened the score in the third for the Islanders, who have won a season-high four straight and have collected points in 13 of their last 14 games (9-1-4).

Goalie Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves, including a glove save of Ryan Strome's shot with 5.7 seconds left while Varlamov was being screened by Adam Henrique.

Troy Terry, Henrique and Sam Carrick scored a trio of unanswered goals in a span of 17-plus minutes bridging the second and third for the Ducks, who have lost 12 of 13 (1-12-0). Goalie John Gibson recorded 30 saves.

Hudson Fasching poked the puck loose from Jackson LaCombe deep in the Ducks' zone to begin the sequence that ended with Palmieri scoring 40 seconds into the second period.

Cizikas capped an end-to-end rush and doubled the lead 5:52 later, when he exchanged the puck with Cal Clutterbuck before beating a sprawling Gibson glove side.

The Ducks benefited from some puck luck in scoring their goals. Terry scored on the power play at the 7:47 mark, when his pass across the ice glanced off the skate of Bertuzzo and fluttered past Varlamov.

Urho Vaakanainen's shot into the crease ticked off the skate of Islanders right winger Julian Gauthier and to Henrique, who buried the point-blank shot to tie the score with 6:31 remaining.

Bertuzzo accidentally helped the Ducks take the lead early in the third, when Ross Johnston's clearing pass clipped off Bertuzzo's stick and bounced to Carrick. The center shuffled the puck for a couple steps before sending a shot over Varlamov's stick shoulder at the 5:07 mark.

—Field Level Media