Simon Holmstrom delivers career first in Barzal’s return as NY Islanders route Ducks

Simon Holmstrom scored his first NHL hat trick, and Mathew Barzal contributed an assist in his season debut as the New York Islanders defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-2 on Saturday night at Honda Center.

The Isles improved to 9-6-4 with their second consecutive victory and extended their point streak to four 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.”

Matthew Schaefer recorded a career-high three assists, Bo Horvat had a goal and an assist, and Matias Maccelli and Kyle Palmieri each added two assists. Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves.

Barzal, returning from left knee inflammation, assisted on Ben Hutton’s opening goal at 1:55 of the first period. Hutton’s shot deflected off two Anaheim sticks before slipping between Lukas Dostal’s pads.

The Isles took control with four second-period goals.

Horvat scored on the power play at 1:33 before Nikita Nesterov answered for Anaheim. Holmstrom restored the two-goal advantage just 26 seconds later, finishing a rush at 3:01.

Holmstrom scored again at 8:28, and Mitchell Chaffee converted Schaefer’s pass on a 2-on-1 two minutes later to make it 5-1.

“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.”

Cutter Gauthier scored late in the second, extending his goal streak to eight games. Holmstrom completed his hat trick at 2:41 of the third after seven previous two-goal games.

“It was a big relief,” Holmstrom said.

The Isles return to UBS Arena to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Eastern.

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