Palmieri has 4 points, Islanders surge past Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Kyle Palmieri had an NHL career-high four points with a goal and three assists for the New York Islanders in a 6-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Wednesday.

"Feels nice just to do it," said Palmieri, a first-round pick by the Ducks in the 2009 NHL Draft. "Our line stepped up and was able to make a positive contribution."
Brock Nelson scored two goals, and Pierre Engvall and Zach Parise each had a goal and an assist for the Islanders (35-27-8), who lost 5-2 at the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. Ilya Sorokin started for the second straight night and made 20 saves.
"Last night's game wasn't too demanding for him," New York coach Lane Lambert said of Sorokin. "We felt that he could go again tonight. He's played well lately, so we put him back in."

New York is tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, but the Penguins have three games in hand. New York is five points ahead of the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals.
Kevin Shattenkirk scored twice, and John Gibson made 27 saves for the Ducks (22-36-10), who are 5-2-3 in their past 10 games.
"We've taken some really great strides here, but tonight we took a step backwards," Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. "We just couldn't come out of it. We're going to have to get back to the game we were playing."

The Ducks took a 1-0 lead 25 seconds into the game on a wrist shot from the slot by Max Jones.
Palmieri tied it 1-1 at 12:24 with a wrist shot off the rush after a feed from Engvall.
Shattenkirk gave Anaheim a 2-1 lead at 17:47. Trevor Zegras carried the puck into the offensive zone, brought the puck between his legs and then slid a backhand pass to the left face-off circle to Shattenkirk for a one-timer.
"The kid is skilled," Eakins said of Zegras. "It all comes very naturally to him."

Hudson Fasching tied it 2-2 at 9:46 of the second period when he beat Gibson through the five-hole from the left circle on an odd-man rush.
Nelson gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead with 23 seconds left in the period on a one-timer from the right circle.
Engvall scored from in close off a rush to make it 4-2 at 2:58 of the third period. The forward, who was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 28, has scored in three straight games.
"[Engvall] is fitting in well with us," Palmieri said. "It's clear he's working hard."

Nelson scored again from in close to make it 5-2 at 9:02, and Parise made it 6-2 at 12:45.
"I thought our line (with Parise and Palmieri) did a lot of good things," Nelson said. "Probably the best thing for us was to get right back at it (after getting routed by Los Angeles on Tuesday). These two points are huge for us."
Shattenkirk scored on a power play at 15:05 for the 6-3 final.
NOTES:Nelson (30 goals) is the first Islanders player with back-to-back 30-goal seasons since Anders Lee from 2016-18. ... New York forward Josh Bailey was a healthy scratch for the fifth time this season. ... Sorokin started on back-to-back days for the second time this season. The other was Dec. 22-23. ... Engvall tied his NHL career high with his 15th goal. ... The Islanders are 8-4-1 in the second of back-to-back games. ... The Ducks announced goalie Anthony Stolarz had knee surgery Wednesday and will be out 6-8 weeks. He hasn't played since Feb. 7. ... Zegras has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past seven games.