Islanders Survive Wild First Period, Hold Off Ducks 3-2

Four of the five goals in this game were scored in a frantic five-minute stretch of the first period, and New York never relinquished the lead it built there. Anaheim clawed back twice but couldn't find the equalizer, falling 3-2 on October 20.

The game turned into a spectacle before the first period was even over. Ondrej Palat opened the scoring at 13:39 on a wrist shot — assisted by Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anthony Duclair — and that goal proved to be the turning point, shifting the margin from even to 1-0 in New York's favor. Less than three minutes later, Victor Eklund made it 2-0 on a backhand at 16:28, with Emil Heineman and Matthew Kessel picking up the assists. Anaheim responded almost immediately: Frank Vatrano buried a backhand of his own at 17:18, with AJ Greer and Leo Carlsson assisting, to cut it to 2-1. But the Islanders answered right back — Simon Holmstrom tipped one in at 18:44, assisted by Matthew Schaefer and Bo Horvat, and just like that it was 3-1 heading to the second. Four goals in five minutes and five seconds. The first period did a lot of heavy lifting.

Anaheim went quiet for the middle frame and most of the third, but Alex Killorn pulled one back at 17:20 of the third — a wrist shot assisted by Leo Carlsson and Jackson LaCombe — to make it a one-goal game at 3-2. That's as close as the Ducks would get. Ilya Sorokin stopped 15 of 17 shots to earn the win, while Lukas Dostal was the busier goaltender, turning aside 22 of 25 shots in a losing effort.

The story of the night was Leo Carlsson, who looks like the engine Anaheim's offense runs through right now. He picked up two assists — his eighth and ninth of the season — and was involved in both Ducks goals. That kind of production from a young center is worth watching. On the other side, the Islanders appear to have benefited from a first period that got away from Anaheim defensively; building a 3-1 lead with under two minutes left in the opening frame is the kind of cushion that lets a team manage the rest of the game rather than chase it. New York did exactly that, absorbing Killorn's late push without panic. Anaheim outshot the Islanders 25-17, which suggests the Ducks generated the better of the play overall — but the scoreboard is the scoreboard, and New York's 3-2 final stands.