Late surge gives Ducks 5-4 victory over Islanders

Time was running out for the Ducks on Friday night, which seemed a fitting metaphor for the season.

But they came back with a furious finish, scoring the tying goal with 32 seconds left in regulation before Saku Koivu netted the winner 14 seconds into overtime for a 5-4 victory over the New York Islanders at the Honda Center.

The Ducks’ third win in a row — after an 0-4-1 start following the Olympic break — left them seven points out of the final Western Conference playoff spot with 12 games to play.

“It’s hard on everybody’s nervous system,” Coach Randy Carlyle said, but he vowed that his team is not going to be eliminated from the playoff chase quietly.

“No, that is not going to happen,” he said.

Flat for much of the game against the Islanders — a likely also-ran from the Eastern Conference — the Ducks trailed, 4-2, in the third before Jason Blake trimmed the lead to one on a power-play goal at the 9:53 mark.

Parts of the game seemed to be an effort to set Teemu Selanne up for his 600th NHL goal — too much so, Carlyle said — but Selanne’s big play was an assist on Lubomir Visnovsky’s tying goal after the Ducks pulled their goaltender in the final minute.

Visnovsky’s goal — his second of the game and fifth since joining the Ducks at the trade deadline — set off a celebration in the stands that had barely subsided before Koivu stole the puck in neutral zone in the opening seconds of overtime and skated in alone on Islanders goalie Martin Biron, beating him on the stick side.

The goal was Koivu’s second consecutive game-winner after he scored the go-ahead goal against Chicago on Wednesday.

Koivu, one of the Ducks’ eight Olympians, said the team has emerged from its post-Vancouver funk, particularly with victories over San Jose and Chicago, the top two teams in the West.

“Obviously we spoke about those first four games after the break. The way we played wasn’t the way we wanted to finish the season,” he said.

The first two periods were no great display of hockey, though Koivu contributed a save when he swept a puck out from behind goaltender Jonas Hiller, who was pulled for Curtis McElhinney after allowing three goals.

The third period, though, was “amazing,” Koivu said.

“These are the types of games we need,” he said. “We’ll take these points any way right now.”

The Islanders, in a similar chase in the East, lost four of their first five after the Olympics but had won three in a row since.

The Islanders led, 4-2, after two periods on two goals by Kyle Okposo and one each from Richard Park and John Tavares.

The Ducks’ goals came from Matt Beleskey and defenseman Visnovsky.

The Ducks were playing the first of eight games without defenseman James Wisniewski, suspended by the NHL for eight games for a hit to the head that knocked Chicago’s Brent Seabrook out of the game Wednesday.

Steve Eminger replaced Wisniewski in the lineup, but with Wisniewski averaging more than 24 minutes a game, Ducks General Manager Bob Murray called it an “awful blow” to the team.

Wisniewski is eligible to return April 3 against the Kings at Staples Center. But by then the Ducks will have only four games remaining.

“It’s not easy for us right now,” Visnovsky said. “Every point is important for us.”

Etc.

Ryan Getzlaf returned to the Ducks’ lineup after missing one game because he aggravated the left-ankle sprain that threatened to keep him out of the Olympics. … Seabrook practiced with the Blackhawks on Friday, telling reporters afterward, “I feel a lot better.”

robynnorwood@verizon.net