The New York Islanders went 1-2 in their three games played this week. They defeated the Penguins in overtime before losing two straight games. Those two losses came to the Blues on the road and the Lightning at home. The Islanders have a 23-20-14 record with 60 total points.
Blown Lead With a Better Ending
In their first game after the epic Stadium Series collapse, the Islanders traveled to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. They found themselves trailing in the first period when Marcus Pettersson scored on a wide-open one-timer. Despite a tough start to the first period, the Islanders came to life in the second period. Brock Nelson unleashed a sweet backhanded shot to tie the game at the 3:40 mark of the period. After a successful penalty kill just minutes later, Mat Barzal scored the go-ahead goal on a breakaway chance as he got out of the box. Simon Holmstrom gave the Islanders a two-goal cushion after a high-effort play to steal the puck and get it past Alex Nedeljkovic. That two-goal lead was quickly erased by Lars Eller in the final minutes of the period.
With a one-goal game in the third period yet again, this game followed an eerily similar script to the game prior. Mike Reilly buried the first goal of the third period to give the Islanders a 5-3 lead. Then, in very short order, they blew the lead for the second straight game. Just over a minute after Reilly’s goal, Valtteri Puustinen knocked in a rebounded puck to put the Penguins within one. Less than a minute after that, a pass intended for Pettersson went off of Anders Lee’s stick and past Ilya Sorokin, tying the game. Another blown third period lead brought the Islanders to overtime yet again. The difference this time is that the Islanders managed to come out on top. Adam Pelech burst into the zone and ripped in his first goal of the season to secure a 5-4 overtime win.
32 Second Span Unravels Game Against Blues
On Thursday, the Islanders took to the road to play against the St. Louis Blues. After playing them to a scoreless tie into the second period, the Islanders defense completely melted down. Brandon Saad opened things up at the 4:38 mark after getting a great look on the power play. Just seven seconds later, Pavel Buchnevich was left wide open and beat Semyon Varlamov one-on-one. Patrick Roy called his timeout to try and settle his team, but it had minimal effect. Buchnevich buried another goal from the right circle just 25 seconds after his first goal. This brought the total to three Blues goals in 32 seconds.
After this stretch of play, the game resumed its low-scoring pace. The Islanders could not find an answer for Jordan Binnington, who was phenomenal in this one. They were also burned by their ineffectiveness on the power play, going 0/5 on the man advantage. Roy tried to get his team back in this game by pulling his goalie with over 11 minutes left while playing four-on-four to create a man advantage. However, the idea ended disastrously, with Buchnevich getting the opportunity to complete his hat trick after a shot that hit the Blues post. That sealed a 4-0 loss to the Blues, in which Binnington picked up a 38-save shutout.Â
Comeback Bid Falls Short Against the Lightning
In their last game of the week, the Islanders hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning in a matinee at UBS Arena. It got off to a bad start as the Lightning got on the board four minutes into the game. Nicholas Paul got a great opportunity on a rebounded puck to take the early lead. Nikita Kucherov followed him up just a minute later with a powerful slap shot to go up by two. The Lightning took a three-goal lead in the second when Brayden Point unleashed a cannon of a power play goal past Sorokin.
Heading into the third period, the Islanders offense continued to struggle as they had in the previous game. They had what would’ve been their first goal of the game called back and couldn’t capitalize on any of their three power play chances in the second. With things looking bleak in the third, Lee broke the scoreless drought by tipping in a goal with the Islanders net empty. Then, at the 17:25 mark of the third, Nelson capitalized on a power play opportunity to bring the Islanders to within one. They tried to tie the game up with the net empty, but Luke Glendenning scored an empty netter to seal the game. The Islanders lost by a 4-2 final score and continued a rough stretch of play.
3 Stars of the Week
1. Brock Nelson (Two goals, assist)
2. Adam Pelech (GWG and assist in win over Penguins)
3. Mat Barzal (Goal, two assists)
Featured image courtesy of NHL.com
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