Islanders 5-4 Blackhawks (December 12, 2024) Game Recap

NEW YORK – Simon Holmstrom scored a goal and two assists, Noah Dobson scored a goal and an assist and the New York Islanders beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 on Thursday night.

Dennis Cholowski, Bo Horvat and Max Tsyplakov also scored for New York, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau had three assists. Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves as the Islanders went 3-2-1 in their last six games.

Tyler Bertuzzi scored two goals, Connor Bedard had a goal and an assist and TJ Brodie also scored for Chicago, which has lost six of seven games. Arvid Soderblom made 14 saves for Chicago before being replaced at 7:58 of the third period by Drew Commesso, making his NHL debut. Commesso finished with two saves,

Holmstrom gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead with 5:54 left in the second period, and Dobson, Horvat and Tsyplakov each scored 2:17 into the third period to increase the lead to 5-1.

Brodie put the Blackhawks up 5-2 with just under 9 minutes left, and Bertuzzi scored twice a minute apart, making it just one goal with 1:10 left.

Takeaways

Islanders: New York continued to experiment with its forward combinations throughout the game in search of better chemistry. Reinforcements could arrive soon as Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair trained in regular jerseys before the game.

Blackhawks: Chicago’s penalty kill, ranked sixth in the NHL, killed three power-play opportunities for the Islanders.

Key moment

Islanders coach Patrick Roy gathered his team during a televised timeout in the second period and gave an impassioned speech. New York responded with four straight goals to put the game out of reach.

Key statistics

New York allowed another power play goal and cut its home penalty kill to 15 for 29 this season.

Next:

The Blackhawks visit New Jersey on Saturday to complete a three-game trip and the Islanders visit Chicago on Sunday to open a three-game trip.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL