Islanders burn out in loss to Flames
For all the optimism around the Islanders right now, making up points in the playoff race has proved to be a difficult task.
And by losing to the Flames, 5-2, at UBS Arena on Saturday, with MacKenzie Weegar’s hat trick helping hand the Islanders their first loss since the All-Star break, the home side lost another few inches on the pack at a moment when gaining everything it can is nothing short of vital.
After putting in a nearly perfect performance against Tampa on Thursday for their best game under Patrick Roy, this was easily the Islanders’ worst since the new head coach was brought in.
“I really hate to lose, especially in our building,” Roy said. “I feel like we need to be a little more dominant at home than what we did [today].”
The Islanders, missing Alexander Romanov with a lower-body issue, struggled to generate offense as Calgary did a good job keeping them to the outside and limiting high-danger chances. The energy, aside from fits and starts, wasn’t quite there until the third period. The second line was the only grouping to generate much offense with breakouts and wall play in general lacking.
It didn’t help that some breaks — for example, a freak first-period goal scored by Kyle Palmieri that was waved off for offside — went against the Islanders.
“It’s tough ’cause it wasn’t our best,” Brock Nelson said. “I wouldn’t say it was horrible. But for some reason, we found ourselves not generating as much possession, offensive zone time as we have the last couple weeks early. Then we find ourselves in a hole.”
That 3-0 hole entering the third period proved too big to climb out of, even after Nelson’s wrist shot 3:58 into the period gave a glimmer of hope.
With Roy shaking up his top six — moving Pierre Engvall to the top line and Anders Lee to the second — the Islanders generated more offense in the third. But aside from Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s consolation goal at six-onfive, which was more than offset by the Flames scoring twice into an empty net, the Islanders couldn’t beat Jacob Markstrom, who finished with 35 saves.
Really, the damage was done in the first 40 minutes.
“I feel like in the first period, why I was a little bit more [animated], I felt like at times our focus was not as sharp as, let’s say, the previous two games,” Roy said. “I felt like we were reacting to what I said.”
Semyon Varlamov’s 600th career appearance in nets got off to an inauspicious start when Weegar beat him clean 3:47 into the game on a knuckling wrist shot that went stick side. The Islanders appeared to tie the game when Palmieri’s shot from the blue line ricocheted off the end boards, then off Markstrom and into the net, but upon review, the play was correctly deemed offside.
That was as close as the Islanders came to scoring until the game was already whittled away.
Jonathan Huberdeau took advantage of a penalty kill that continues to struggle at 8:38 of the second when he cleaned up the garbage on Yegor Sharangovich’s rebound. And Weegar made it 3-0 from the high slot at the 15:16 mark of the same period after
Walker Duehr flubbed a shot and the puck made its way to Weegar.
The Islanders had chances all game — per Natural Stat Trick they led in high-danger chances, 9-3, at five-on-five. But the energy wasn’t what it needed to be, particularly early.
“I didn’t think we did a good job getting the puck out of the zone on our wall play, could have been a lot better,” Roy said. “Offensively, maybe we could have gotten more inside.”
The Islanders need to put together a surge under Roy. But their nascent winning streak Saturday was halted before it ever really got off the ground, with the situation made worse by Detroit winning.
Progress under Roy won’t be a straight shot upwards. But the Islanders need their ascent in the standings to be.
“Not playing your best game doesn’t mean you have to lose hockey games. Good hockey teams find ways to win those games,” Roy said. “And that’s what I want our group to understand and learn to do.”