3 Takeaways: Isles Rack Up Six Goals in 6-3 Win over Ducks

The New York Islanders were looking for a bounce-back effort on Wednesday night and they found it with an explosive 6-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.
They didn't necessarily find it right away, as Anaheim opened the scoring 25 seconds into the contest, but the Islanders took over the game in convincing fashion, scoring six goals for the first time since Jan. 3.

"It's nice where you're able to kind of bounce back and get right back at it like today," Brock Nelson said. "A good job by everybody. We give up one right away early in the first minute, which is not ideal, but we stuck with it. I thought we got to our game and controlled the play for most of the game."
Former Duck Kyle Palmieri led the way with a career-high four-point game (1G, 3A), Pierre Engvall (1G, 1A) scored for a third-straight game while Brock Nelson (2G), Hudson Fasching and Zach Parise (1G, 1A) each found the back of the net in the win.
In the process the Islanders (78 points) snapped a two-game losing streak, won their fourth-straight against Anaheim and pulled into a tie with Pittsburgh for the first wild card, though the Penguins hold three games in hand. The Islanders also maintained a little distance with the Washington Capitals (73 points), who scored a 5-4 win over Buffalo (72 points), as well as the Florida Panthers (73 points) who were idle on Wednesday.

AFTER EARLY SCARE, ISLES TAKE OVER GAME:

While Anaheim is well outside of the playoff picture, the Islanders could not afford to take the Ducks, who came into the game 5-1-3 in their last nine games, lightly.
They found that out immediately with a wakeup call 25 seconds into the game, as Max Jones slipped into the slot undetected where he collected a Cam Fowler pass and snapped a shot through Ilya Sorokin.
Jones' goal was the quickest tally the Islanders had allowed this season, 14 seconds faster than Anton Lundell's icebreaker in Florida on Oct. 23, 2022.
ISLANDERS 6, DUCKS 3
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Postgame: Lambert
Postgame: Engvall
Postgame: Nelson
Postgame: Palmieri
KINGER'S CALLS
Palmieri Buries Wrister
Fasching Scores on 3-on-1
Nelson Scores 29th
Engvall Keeps Rollin
Nelson Nets 30th
Parise's Backhander
That seemingly woke up the Islanders, who held the Ducks without a shot for an 11-minute stretch shortly. That extended pressure led to Islanders tying the score, as Palmieri - a former Duck - snapped a wrister past John Gibson to tie it at 12:24.
"We made a little mistake on the first goal and t wasn't the start we wanted," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "But I thought tonight we worked. I thought we did a lot of good things and we were rewarded for it."
Despite carrying the play for most of the period, outshooting the Ducks 13-7 and generating nine scoring chances to Anaheim's five, the Isles trailed after 20 minutes. Trevor Zegras pulled the puck between his legs on a two-on-one rush before backhanding a pass across to Kevin Shattenkirk, who made it 2-1 at 17:47.
The Islanders continued to push the pace in the second period, outshooting the Ducks 16-8. Their work ethic was rewarded with a pair of goals by Hudson Fasching and a last-minute goal by Brock Nelson.
Fasching kept, shot and scored on a three-on-one rush with JG Pageau and Scott Mayfield, snapping his sixth of the season five-hole on John Gibson at 9:46 to make it 2-2. After a Ducks icing late in the period, the Islanders worked the puck to Nelson, who one-timed his 29th of the season from the right dot with 23 seconds to play in the period.
From there, the Islanders pulled away, scoring three third period goals to put the game away. Pierre Engvall made it 4-2 at 2:58, snapping a Palmieri feed past Gibson for his third goal in as many games. Nelson netted his 30th goal of the season - becoming the first Islanders player to score 30 goals in back-to-back seasons since Anders Lee in 2016-18 - to make it 5-2. Zach Parise made it 6-2 for good measure, while Shattenkirk's second of the season - a slapper on a late power play - rounded out the scoring.

ENGVALL-NELSON-PALMIERI'S BIG NIGHT:

The new-look line of Pierre Engvall, Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri had a big night, combining for four of the Islanders six goals and racking up eight total points (4G, 4A) on the evening.
Palmieri, who played 198 games with Anaheim at the start of his career, had his first four-point game, scoring the Islanders first goal of the game in the first period and dishing out three assists.
"I don't think I think too much into it," Palmieri said of the career-night. "Our line played well, our team played well, we were getting scoring chances and it feels good to contribute like that."
Palmieri's two primary assists went to his linemates in the third period, as the new trio proved to be effective. Engvall had a goal and an assist to up his point streak to three games (3G, 1A), while Nelson scored a pair of goals, including a crucial one in the final minute of the second period.
"They're big bodies," Palmieri said of the 6'5 Engvall and 6'4 Nelson. "They move really well. It makes it easy to just try and keep up with them."
Since Palmieri returned to the lineup on Jan. 23, he's second on the Islanders with 16 points (5G, 11A) in 22 games, second only to Nelson, who has 24 points (13G, 11A) over that span. Lambert said he felt Engvall's speed would be a good compliment for Palmieri and Nelson, who had been playing with Zach Parise over the past few weeks.

SOROKIN STARTS BACK-TO-BACK:

Ilya Sorokin stopped 20 of 23 shots on Wednesday night, as the netminder made his second start in as many nights.
Lambert said he felt that despite Tuesday's 5-2 final - which saw Sorokin stop 32 shots - it wasn't the most taxing game on the goalie. That combined with easy travel from downtown LA to suburban Anaheim allowed him to play Sorokin on both nights of the back to back.
There was also some historical precedent for the move, as the Tuesday-Wednesday split marked Sorokin's fifth time playing on consecutive nights, most recently playing on Dec. 22 at MSG and Dec. 23 at home vs Florida earlier this season.
The one change Lambert made came in his forward corps, as Simon Holmstrom re-entered the lineup after a one-game absence, replacing Josh Bailey.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders wrap up their California swing on Saturday night when they take on the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center. Puck drop is at 10:30 p.m. et.