Recap: Ducks Can't Contain Isles in 6-1 Loss at Honda Center

The Ducks fell behind early and could not rally back in tonight's homestand finale, a 6-1 loss to the New York Islanders at Honda Center.

NHL GAMECENTER | DUCKS STREAM

The loss dropped Anaheim to 23-38-3 on the season and capped the five-game stretch on home ice at 2-3-0.

Alex Killorn extended his goal streak to four games, matching a career-high, with Anaheim's lone tally for the evening. Max Jones and Radko Gudas recorded assists. Lukas Dostal made 13 saves.

Casey Cizikas, Kyle Palmieri, Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat, Pierre Engvall and Cal Clutterbuck scored for the Islanders, who grabbed their sixth straight win, improved to 29-20-14 on the season and passed the Red Wings for the Eastern Conference's second Wild Card berth.

Veteran netminder Semyon Varlamov claimed the win between the pipes, his seventh of the season and the 279th of his 16-year NHL career, with stops on 22-of-23 Anaheim attempts.

New York first went ahead before the halfway mark of the opening period, with winger Simon Holmstrom forcing a turnover deep in the Anaheim zone and then quickly feeding Cizikas in the slot for a one-timer past Dostal.

Holmstrom scored the game-winning goal in the Islanders' win over the Ducks back in December on Long Island.

Palmieri doubled the lead two minutes later, beating Dostal with a backhand move on the breakaway.

Selected by the Ducks in the first round of the 2009 NHL Draft, Palmieri has scored nine goals in 16 career matchups against his original NHL team. The goal also clinched Palmieri's sixth 20-goal season in the NHL, and his first since the 2019-20 campaign. Palmieri sits fourth among Islanders team leaders in goals and fifth in points this season.

Nelson then gave New York a 3-0 edge after one with a power-play one-timer from the slot.

The 32-year-old Nelson has points in five straight games, including three multi-point efforts. Earlier this season, Nelson became the 12th player in franchise history to record 500 career points as an Islander.

Mathew Barzal's assist pushed the All-Star center's own scoring streak to seven games.

Killorn would get Anaheim on the board in the first minute of the middle frame, finishing a drop pass from Jones off the rush with a wrister up over Varlamov's glove.

The goal made Killorn just the second player in franchise history with a four-game goal streak in his first season as a Duck.

Killorn has scored in five of his last six games and sits fourth among team leaders in goals this season.

Jones' assist gave him four points in the last five games and moved him within one of his career high (10), set last season.

Horvat restored the three-goal New York lead in the initial moments of the third though when a loose puck found the veteran center alone at the backdoor.

Engvall and Clutterbuck capped the scoring later in the third period, sealing a 6-1 win for the visitors.

The Ducks begin a four-game road trip Tuesday in Chicago.