Simon Holmstrom scored a goal and picked up two assists while JG Pageau recorded three assists, helping the Islanders defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 at UBS Arena.

Bedard gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead on the power play at 16:47 of the first period after an Islanders defensive-zone turnover. Ryan Donato collected the puck and fed Bedard, who toe-dragged around two Islanders before putting a shot past Sorokin’s glove from the left hash marks.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each registered three points in the Islanders' 5-4 win over the Blackhawks on Thursday night.

Noah Dobson, Bo Horvat and Maxim Tsyplakov scored within a span of 2:19 for the New York Islanders, who held off a late rally by the Chicago Blackhawks to earn a 5-4 win on Thursday in Elmont, N.Y.

The Blackhawks experienced two firsts last night despite losing. The first was Drew Commesso's NHL debut in net. He relieved Arvid Soderblom after Chicago’s current starter allowed five goals on 19 shots.

Nobody throws parties for NHL-.500, and Islanders coach Patrick Roy was very much not in the mood to do so after watching his team take its foot off the gas at the end of its win Thursday. Still, this day that started with good news and ended with two points marks as good a spot as the Islanders have been in for a while.