Ducks at Islanders | Recap

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Anders Lee had two goals and two assists for the New York Islanders in a 5-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at UBS Arena on Thursday.

It was Lee's third career four-point game and his first since Oct. 27, 2018.

Simon Holmstrom had a goal and two assists, Travis Mitchell scored his first NHL goal, and Tony DeAngelo had two assists for the Islanders (18-11-3), who have won five of their past six games. David Rittich made 31 saves.

“It was a great effort by everyone,” New York coach Patrick Roy said. “Especially losing Bo in that second period. And then [Anaheim] came back. They scored on our power play, but Simon came in with a big goal. I mean, it was an outstanding individual effort, cutting and putting it in. So, that was more than welcome, but that was a solid effort.”

ANA@NYI: Lee tips in PPG to extend lead

Islanders forward Bo Horvat, who leads the team with 19 goals this season, left at 6:52 of the second period with a lower-body injury. His right skate got tangled up with the right skate of Ducks defenseman Drew Helleson, which caused his left knee to bend awkwardly.

“The only update I have is that it’s a lower-body injury and he’s going to be day to day,” Roy said. “You don’t like to see any of your players get hurt, but that’s all I can say for now.”

Troy Terry had a goal and an assist for the Ducks (19-11-1), who had their three-game winning streak end. Ville Husso made 32 saves.

“We had a really good first period and we were down 3-0,” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said. “That was the game right there. We had good pace, we had good energy. They got the breaks, and we were chasing the game after that. They checked pretty good.”

Mitchell, who was playing in his seventh NHL game, gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 8:18 of the first period. Scott Mayfield’s one-timer went wide of the net, but the puck caromed off the end boards right to Mitchell, who had just skated in off the bench and roofed a shot over Husso from the left circle.

“I always dreamed about scoring a goal in the NHL,” Mitchell said. “To be able to do that, it's pretty unreal. It was a great play by Mayfield to get the puck to the net. I saw the rebound there, so I tried to pounce on the opportunity.”

ANA@NYI: Mitchell blasts it in to open scoring

Lee made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 10:16, redirecting DeAngelo's point shot from the top of the crease.

Lee scored his second power-play goal of the period to extend the lead to 3-0 at 19:06. DeAngelo’s shot from the point hit Lee in front, but the puck dropped down at the left post, where the Islanders captain lifted it in.

The goal came shortly after Rittich stopped Frank Vatrano on a short-handed breakaway.

"Tough coming back from 3-0 in this game," Quenneville said. "We had a decent start to the year, and now we're in a different stretch here. We try to get points every day, every game. Our team game had signs there, but when you get down 3-0, it gets a little bit wide open. We're trying to be so creative that it sometimes could be hazardous."

Leo Carlsson made it 3-1 at 5:34 of the second period during 4-on-4 play. After winning an offensive zone face-off, he beat Rittich glove side with a shot from the left circle.

Terry cut it to 3-2 with a short-handed goal at 2:37 of the third period. Ryan Poehling won a race for the puck with Matthew Schaefer before passing across to Terry, who was all alone in the low slot and made a move before beating Rittich five-hole.

“Yeah, I mean, these games are going to happen," Terry said. "I felt we came out really strong. We could tell we had our legs tonight. ... Things kind of escalated quickly in a short amount of time.”

Holmstrom pushed it to 4-2 at 6:06. He skated around Olen Zellweger on a rush down the left wing, cut across the crease, and tucked a backhand past Husso's left pad.

Ryan Pulock made it 5-2 at 14:46 when his wrist shot from the right boards deflected off the stick of Chris Kreider and over the glove of Husso. It was his first goal of the season.

“We lost Bo. We obviously know how important he is and how much he does for us on the ice every night, and we did a good job of filling that as much as we could tonight,” Lee said. “But even with the other ones, too, we've lost some extremely key players and we continue just to push through. There’s a reason why it’s so tough to get in (to the Stanley Cup Playoffs). Things like this happen and adversity happens, and it's almost a little bit of a war of attrition in a way. And right now, we're plugging the holes.”

NOTES: Lee has scored 297 career goals, passing Brock Nelson (295) for fifth in Islanders history. ... Holmstrom has scored in consecutive games after ending a 17-game goal drought in a 5-4 shootout win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.