Horvat, Islanders recover to defeat Blackhawks in shootout

CHICAGO -- Bo Horvat scored in regulation and got the only goal in the second round of the shootout to lift the New York Islanders to a 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Tuesday.

“I thought we had a really good first (period),” Horvat said. “After that, I just think our whole team just sat back a little bit too much. We weren’t as crisp in the second. I thought we did a little bit better in the third, but overall, I think we can be a lot better as a team. They don’t ask how sometimes, and we found a way to get that done.”

David Rittich made 17 saves for the Islanders (22-14-4), who have won three of four.

“Not many shots (were) going at me,” Rittich said. “When we gave up something, it was multiple times grade A. Not an easy game for myself, but (they) are not going to be asking how. Those two points are going to be important for us.”

Oliver Moore had two assists for the Blackhawks (14-18-7), who have lost two in a row and eight of nine (1-7-1). Spencer Knight made 19 saves.

“You can look at it two ways,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “You can look at it (as a) good job recovering from a bad start, and you go out and play real good the rest of the way. I think we had, after the 10-minute mark, we had chances 14-8 for us. But the first 10, it was 5-1 them. For me, that was as poor a start as we’ve had.

“I know the other night (a 7-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday), we got scored on more. I thought from just our heads being in it, I didn’t think we were where we needed to be with the mental focus for that first 10 minutes. So, to me, you kind of let it slip away because you’re not prepared to make sure that you play great hockey for 60 minutes.”

Calum Ritchie gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 2:56 of the first period when he took a drop pass from Simon Holmstrom and put a wrist shot past Knight’s stick from the slot.

Horvat made it 2-0 on a power play at 12:08. Mathew Barzal found Horvat with a backhand pass in the left face-off circle, where he buried a snap shot for his second goal in as many games.

“To be honest, even in the first period I thought we were not playing our best,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “It was 2-0 for us, but we gave them a few chances. The second was hard to watch. It was not our best game, no doubt about it. The good thing is we found a way to win the game. We played well enough defensively to give ourselves a chance. But today, we didn’t move the puck well. We didn’t generate much offensively in the second or the third period.”

Teuvo Teravainen brought the Blackhawks to within 2-1 at 15:31 of the second period. Moore fed the puck to Teravainen, who scored while skating backward in the right circle.

The goal was Teravainen’s first since Nov. 28 (14 games).

“I think we for sure got it together, but that's been the last couple games now,” Moore said of slow starts. “If we start better, we're winning that game 10 times out of 10. That's what it comes down to. It's a tough league, it's a nonforgiving league, and we've got to start on time.”

With the Blackhawks on a four-minute power play after Horvat was assessed a double minor for high-sticking, Nick Lardis tied the game 2-2 at 19:57. He received a cross-ice pass from Moore and scored on a snap shot from the right circle.

“I just tried to hustle for the puck,” Lardis said. “I kind of turned the puck over before that, so I felt like I owed it to our unit there to get it back. Couple seconds left, [Moore] made a great play and found some open ice, and it was great.”

Blackhawks center Jason Dickinson did not play after the first period. Blashill said he is day to day and that there is “potential” he could miss Chicago's next game against the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

NOTES: Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (18 years, 116 days) had the secondary assist on Horvat’s goal to become the youngest defenseman in NHL history to reach 25 career points. Schaefer also required the fourth-fewest games (40) for an 18-year-old defenseman to reach this milestone, behind Phil Housley (30), Ray Bourque (33) and Bobby Orr (38). … Blackhawks forward Ilya Mikheyev returned to the lineup after missing two games for personal reasons.