Home » New York Islanders Weekly Recap – Week 4

New York Islanders Weekly Recap – Week 4

Justin Miller

Publish Date: November 12, 2023

The Islanders did not win a game this week, losing in all three games played. Additionally, they did not pick up a point in the standings as all three losses were in regulation. They lost two home games to the Wild and Capitals and a road game to the Bruins. The Islanders have a 5-5-3 record with 13 total points.

String of Bad Third Periods Continue in Loss Against the Wild

On Tuesday, the Islanders played host to the visiting Minnesota Wild, hoping to shake off a bad loss to the Hurricanes over the weekend. However, things did not get off to a good start in this one, as Pat Maroon scored on Semyon Varlamov 19 seconds into the game. Things started to improve later in the period as Noah Dobson’s hot streak continued. He ripped a slap shot from the circle past Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game. In the second, Oliver Wahlstrom would score his first goal of the season on the power play to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead. The Wild would tie the game back up at the 12:03 mark of the period, courtesy of Vinni Lettieri’s first goal of the year.

The Islanders recent string of bad third periods would continue in this tied game. After a tough penalty call against Dobson, Kirill Kaprizov capitalized on the ensuing power play to give the Wild the lead. Joel Eriksson Ek would score on a play started by an untimely turnover from Pierre Engvall just 42 seconds later to further increase the Wild’s advantage. The Islanders had no answers on offense in the period and would lose by a 4-2 final score.

Islanders Lose Their Third Straight Game in Loss to Bruins

Thursday’s game saw Ilya Sorokin and the Islanders travel to Boston to play the East’s top team, the Bruins. The major storyline in this game was Lane Lambert’s decision to bench Engvall for a costly turnover in the previous game. Playing in a scoreless first period, Trent Frederic got the Bruins on the board first while the rearranged second line was on defense. Later in the period, Brock Nelson would bat in a power play goal past Linus Ullmark to tie the game. The second period was quiet for the Islanders offense, but they also managed to keep the Bruins in check. The Bruins did, however, score the go-ahead goal courtesy of a power play marker from Charlie Coyle.

Finding themselves on the penalty kill early in the third, the Islanders managed to generate some offense. In a scene of deja vu from the Hurricanes game last week, J.G. Pageau and Simon Holmstrom got a short-handed two-on-one opportunity, with Holmstrom netting the game-tying goal. Despite their success while short-handed, they would let up the go-ahead goal on the same power play to David Pastrnak. The Islanders had yet another tough third period, going scoreless after the short-handed goal. Coyle would put the Bruins up 4-2 at the 9:26 mark and complete the hat trick with the Islanders net empty later in the period. The Islanders would lose their third straight game by a 5-2 final score.

Disappointment Continues in Loss to Capitals

Saturday’s home slate against the Capitals saw the Islanders take on goaltender Hunter Shepard. Shepard was making his second career start after letting up four goals in his debut earlier this year. In a surprise to no Islanders fan, the team struggled mightily to beat the opposing rookie netminder. On the other end, Varlamov did not enjoy the success he had in his previous shutout against this Capitals team. Alex Ovechkin got the game’s opening goal at the 9:18 mark of the first, taking a big shot off of a faceoff win. With under a minute to go, a bad play on the puck from Shepard left Alex Romanov with a wide open net to tie the game.

That would be the only goal the Islanders would manage to get in this game. Nic Dowd and Aliaksei Protas both scored their first goals of the season in the second to give the Capitals the lead. Shepard went on to make 36 saves, and Ovechkin scored his second of the game on the empty net in the third. The Islanders would lose 4-1, taking their fourth straight loss while the upset home crowd called for Lambert to be fired.