NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat and Simon Holmstrom scored in the third period to help the New York Islanders top the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves for New York, which pulled within one point of Washington for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“We played similar hockey throughout the whole game I thought, it was just a matter of it going in,” Horvat said. “We had our chances in all three periods. … Thankfully we got the job done.”
Jason Dickinson scored for last-place Chicago, which had won three of four. Connor Bedard had an assist, and Petr Mrazek made 27 stops.
The Blackhawks jumped in front when Bedard found Dickinson darting toward the back post 7:49 into the first period. Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson turned the puck over in the offensive zone and Casey Cizikas failed to stick with Dickinson, which created an odd-man rush opportunity.
It was Dickinson’s 21st goal, extending his career high. It was Bedard’s team-high 37th assist in his rookie season after Chicago selected the 18-year-old center with the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL draft.
“They outplayed us and they deserved to win,” Bedard said. “Overall, I didn’t think we were terrible. We had some chances but not really enough high-quality chances.”
Horvat tied it at 1 with his team-high 31st goal 1:33 into the third. He buried a feed from Mathew Barzal on the power play.
“I thought we had a lot of looks to score,” Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “You can’t get frustrated in those situations, you gotta keep going. We got the power play and power play came up huge, getting us that goal and we were able to build on it.”
Holmstrom put New York in front at 9:25. He got his 14th goal when he banged home a loose puck.
“(Anders) Lee threw the puck in from behind the net, I was just trying to find it,” Holmstrom said. “You want to get the shot off as quick as possible, that’s what I was trying to do.”
It was the Islanders’ first win in 10 attempts in the second half of a back-to-back situation. They beat Philadelphia 4-3 in overtime on Monday night.
Islanders forward Matt Martin dropped the gloves with Jarred Tinordi late in the first period after Tinordi delivered a big check on Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Host the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
Islanders: Visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
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