Simon Holmstrom scored what proved to be the game-winner in the second period with his first career NHL goal and Semyon Varlamov made 35 saves as the New York Islanders snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Brock Nelson and Zach Parise each had a goal and an assist and Anders Lee and Hudson Fasching also scored goals for New York, which improved to 5-3-1 all-time against Vegas. Jean-Gabriel Pageau added a pair of assists.
Varlamov, who left with 6:22 remaining with an undisclosed injury, improved to 4-0-1 in his last five starts with the only blemish being a shootout loss at Boston. Ilya Sorokin finished up and made one save.
Reilly Smith scored two goals for Vegas, which lost for the fifth time in its last six home games. Logan Thompson stopped 21 of 24 shots.
The Islanders, playing the second half of a back-to-back, took a 1-0 lead at the 18:58 mark of the first period when Lee snapped a shot from the high slot over Thompson’s blocker for his 10th goal of the season.
Vegas tied it 1-1 on a power-play goal by Smith, who roofed a rebound of his own shot from the right side of the crease 71 seconds into the second period.
New York rebounded to take a 2-1 lead when Fasching rushed down the left wing and then cut around defenseman Alex Pietrangelo before firing a wrist shot through Thompson’s pads for his second goal of the season. Holmstrom increased the lead to 3-1 at the 17:36 mark when he also beat Thompson five-hole from the high slot off a Parise pass.
The Islanders nearly made it 4-1, but a wrist shot by Casey Cizikas over Thompson’s glove came just after the buzzer.
Smith cut it to 3-2 at the 3:29 mark of the third period with his second power-play goal of the game, firing a wrister from the top of the right circle past a screen by Mark Stone and into the top right corner of the net.
Smith nearly got a hat trick and the tying goal, but his wrist shot from the left circle caromed off the crossbar with 6:44 to go. Nelson then sealed the win for New York with an empty-netter with 1:28 left, his team-leading 15th goal of the season. Parise added another empty-netter with 11.4 seconds remaining, his 10th goal of the season.
–Field Level Media
