Isles score three quick goals in third period, hang on to beat Chicago

The Islanders, who don’t need to collect style points, just points, were slogging through another one-goal game.

And then they weren’t against Chicago, who entered the match tied for the fewest points in the NHL.

Three third-period goals within two minutes, 19 seconds fueled a 5-4 win on Thursday night at UBS Arena to open a home-and-home series with Chicago.

It again brought the Islanders (12-12-7) to NHL .500 as they equaled the Rangers, who entered Thursday holding the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, with 31 points. Ilya Sorokin, making his seventh straight start with Semyon Varlamov (lower body) still not skating, stopped 26 shots.

The teams play again on Sunday afternoon in Chicago, a day after Chicago (9-18-2) — now 1-2-0 under interim coach Anders Sorensen — ends its three-game road trip against the Devils.

Defenseman Noah Dobson, off the rush, beat Arvid Soderblom (14 saves) to make it 3-1 at 5:39 of the third period on a shot the goalie needed to stop. Bo Horvat, getting to the crease for an easy put-in of Simon Holmstrom’s feed, pushed it to 4-1 at 6:36 and Maxim Tsyplakov, at the left post, gave the Islanders a four-goal edge at 7:58.

Sorensen removed Soderblom at that point for rookie Drew Commesso, making his NHL debut. Chicago tacked on three late goals to make the score closer than the third period really was.

Islanders coach Patrick Roy began shuffling his lines in the second period, limiting Oliver Wahlstrom to just two shifts in the middle 20 minutes.

It resulted in a 2-1 lead.

Defenseman Dennis Cholowski’s one-timer three seconds after the Islanders’ second power play expired tied it at 1-1 at 6:59 of the second period. Holmstrom, skating with Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau after starting on Casey Cizikas’ trio with Pierre Engvall, circled to the middle from the right wall to make it 2-1 at 14:06.

The Islanders were at a lopsided shot disadvantage in the first period for the third straight game — Chicago outshot them 11-6 and the Islanders have been outshot 35-14 in the opening 20 minutes over that span — and trailed 1-0 as they were booed off the ice for the first intermission.

Connor Bedard, the first overall pick in 2023, skated to his left and shot back over Sorokin’s glove for a power-play goal at 16:47.

Notes & quotes: Top-liner Mathew Barzal (upper body/long-term injured reserve), injured on Oct. 30, rejoined his teammates for Thursday’s morning skate. He wore a regular practice jersey and linemate Anthony Duclair (lower body/LTIR), hurt on Oct. 19, and defenseman Adam Pelech (jaw/injured reserve), injured on Nov. 1, shed their orange, non-contact jerseys as they continued to practice with the team. “To have those guys closer and out of the orange, hopefully we’ll see them in action soon,” Brock Nelson said. “It feels and looks close and they look great.” Roy listed them all as day-to-day and added there’s no timetable for any of their returns . . . Defenseman Grant Hutton and forward Hudson Fasching remained healthy scratches.