Frank Nazar scored, and Arvid Soderblom made 15 saves for the Blackhawks (1-4-0).
“We did a lot of positive things throughout the game but probably didn’t get enough out of it,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “I talked with the group. I thought we were the better team and then in one sequence of events, we beat ourselves. We turned the puck over, take a penalty and we blew an assignment on the penalty kill. We just beat ourselves.”
Horvat gave New York a 1-0 lead on the power play at 19:03 of the first period. He won a face-off back to Matthew Schaefer, whose wrist shot from the point was stopped by Soderblom before Horvat gathered the rebound in front, pushed the puck to his left and scored inside the left post.
Sorokin stopped a Cole Smith backhand on a breakaway at 1:08 of the second period. The goalie slid into the net on the play, but after a video review by The Situation Room, there was no conclusive evidence to determine whether the puck crossed the goal line.
Heineman beat Soderblom from the high slot to put the Islanders up 2-0 at 6:44. Matias Maccelli found him cutting into the slot with a pass from the right wall.
“You feel like you are in control of the game. Then, they get one off the power play and they get one off a turnover and it’s 2-0 and you’re chasing the game,” Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane said. “It’s little situations like that where we can do better.”
Duclair pushed the lead to 3-0 at 9:38, burying a one-time pass by Stanley from the right side.
“It starts with Duclair’s forecheck,” Stanley said. “He was on the puck and created a turnover. (Jean-Gabriel) Pageau makes a good play, and Duclair was yelling at me. Must have been open on the on the back door because he was screaming for it. So it’s good talk by him. If he doesn’t yell for it, who knows if I see him out of the corner of my eyes. It’s a big goal for us to take that 3-0 lead.”