ANAHEIM –– The Ducks looked dapper as they donned custom 30th-anniversary sneakers on their way into Honda Center on Sunday, but things got ugly with their skates on as they fell 6-1 to the New York Islanders.
Their level of play was as low as the Islanders’ quality of chances was high in the first period, and the third period saw the Islanders slather on three more goals. The Islanders have now won six consecutive games under Patrick Roy while Coach Greg Cronin’s crew has lost two in a row by a combined count of 12-3 after getting gut-punched by the Dallas Stars on Friday.
Alex Killorn scored for the second straight game to avert a shutout. Lukáš Dostál bore the brunt of a discombobulated night on the ice for the hosts, coming up with just 13 of 19 saves.
Brock Nelson and Bo Horvat each recorded a goal and an assist. Kyle Palmieri, Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck and Pierre Engvall each found the nylon for New York, which also got two assists from Mathew Barzal. Semyon Varlamov stopped 22 shots.
Trailing 3-1 at the second intermission, the Ducks may have had visions of a late push but instead got shoved around again by Islanders.
With 1:48 to play, the Islanders’ fourth line got in on the act as Kyle MacLean earned his first career assist for his pass to Matt Martin, who set up Clutterbuck’s top-shelf tally.
Nearly eight minutes into the third period, Ben Meyers’ soft pass from behind the net that was destined for the blue line after banking off the sidewall was devoured by Engvall, who went the other way for an unassisted breakaway goal.
The Islanders had scored 34 seconds into the frame when a pass from behind the net found Nelson near the left faceoff dot where he wound up for a shot but instead dished the puck to the far post for an uncontested goal by Horvat.
Just 24 seconds into the second period, the Ducks had recouped a goal, the only one scored in the stanza. Radko Gudas blocked J.G. Pageau’s shot to key a counterattack. Max…
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