Simon Holmstrom records first NHL hat trick in Islanders win over Ducks

Simon Holmstrom had his first NHL hat trick for the New York Islanders in a 6-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Saturday.

Bo Horvat had a goal and an assist, Matthew Schaefer had an NHL career-high three assists, and Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves for the Islanders (9-6-4), who have points in four straight games (2-0-2).

"I thought we played a good game," Holmstrom said. "We got some really nice assists, so it was just put the puck in the net."

Cutter Gauthier scored for the eighth straight game for the Ducks (10-9-1), who have lost two in a row after winning five straight. Lukas Dostal made 19 saves.

"We just didn't show up ready to play," Ducks forward Alex Killorn said. "I think they were a lot more prepared than us to play a game and they just got off to a great start."

Ben Hutton gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 1:55 of the first period when his one-timer from above the left face-off circle went off two Anaheim stick blades and between Dostal's pads. Mathew Barzal assisted on the goal in his season debut after recovering from left knee inflammation.

"Barz' is a top player in this league," Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock said. "Whenever you have a player like that come back, obviously it makes you better really quickly."

The Islanders scored four goals in the second period, the first on Horvat's one-timer from above the hash marks while on a power play to make it 2-0 at 1:33.

"We're killing a penalty and nobody's near him in the slot," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said of Horvat.

Nikita Nesterov cut it to 2-1 at 2:35 when he scored with a backhand from in close after a dump-in ricocheted to him from out of the corner.

Holmstrom finished a rush from in front of the crease 26 seconds later to make it 3-1 at 3:01, and he scored again with a one-timer from the right hash marks to make it 4-1 at 8:28.

"You score, and then you give up a goal on the following shift," Quenneville said of the third goal. "That's happened a couple times recently, which is not good if you're trying to get some momentum going in the game."

Mitchell Chaffee scored off a pass from Schaefer on a 2-on-1 to push the lead to 5-1 at 10:28.

"The way we played tonight, I felt like it was the way I've seen it on TV," Barzal said. "Everybody connected, guys reloading hard, bench was positive all night. We rolled four lines and everybody was involved and contributed, so it was a good hockey game by us."

Gauthier redirected a centering pass into the net to cut it to 5-2 at 16:37, his 15th goal in the streak, which is the longest in the NHL since the 2023-24 season.

Holmstrom completed the hat trick with a one-timer from the left circle to make it 6-2 at 2:41 of the third period.

Holmstrom had scored two goals seven previous times in his NHL career, but never three.

"It was a big relief," he said.

The Ducks were held to two goals for the second straight game after scoring at least five in eight straight.

"Obviously, a team that likes to transition and carry the puck, and I thought our forwards took that game right away from them," Pulock said. "Just tracking and stick lifts and just getting in their space, and they weren't really able to create as much as they'd like."

NOTES: Holmstrom has a four-game point streak with three multipoint games (five goals, three assists). Schaefer extended his point streak to five games (two goals, five assists). In addition to his goal streak, Gauthier has a 10-game point streak (15 goals, four assists). Horvat played in his 900th NHL game. At 19 years, 70 days, Schaefer is the youngest player in Islanders history to record 50 NHL assists. Schaefer recorded his 16th career multipoint game to tie Larry Murphy and Rick Hampton for the third most by a teenage defenseman in NHL history behind Phil Housley and Ray Bourque. Islanders defenseman Logan Stanley left early in the second period and did not return. New York coach Pete DeBoer did not have an update following the game. Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury after being a game-time decision.

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