Isles can’t dig out of early hole vs. Predators
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Not this time. Not this game.
In a nine-goal thriller on Thursday evening, the Islanders couldn’t overcome an abysmal first 30 minutes, their comeback attempt falling short in a 5-4 loss to the Predators. Though the Isles regained their footing in the back half of the game, threatening another stirring win, they instead head to Dallas with an 11-7-0 record and the realization that they cannot play themselves out of every hole they step into.
“We gotta find a way to have better starts,” captain Anders Lee said. “It’s a tough building to come and play in, especially the first 20 [minutes]. … You gotta keep it closer than that, give yourself time to settle into the game and withstand that early pressure. We didn’t do that tonight.”
Indeed, the first period on Thursday exemplified a habit the Isles have gotten into of coming out slow, and the Predators jumped all over them. Filip Forsberg cleaned up a rebound from Roman Josi and scored just 1:03 into the game, and it came after 1:03 straight of Nashville pressure.
Nashville scored twice more before the opening 20 minutes had finished, with Colton Sissons redirecting Cole Smith’s shot at 8:43 and Nino Niederreiter’s shot going off Noah Dobson’s skate and past Ilya Sorokin at 9:41. The only reprieve for the Islanders was Adam Pelech’s goal on the team’s first shot, which took a hop off Dante Fabbro’s stick and sent Juuse Saros the wrong way.
When the Islanders went back to their locker room for the first intermission, they did so with a twogoal deficit, the Predators having outshot them 18-7 and the ice having been thoroughly tilted against them, and in need of another comeback.
Nashville scored again just 5:01 into the second, with Juuso Parssinen putting in Forsberg’s rebound, and it would take until halfway through the period for the Islanders to regain any semblance of structure. For far too long, they were victimized when breaking out, made sloppy first passes and let the Predators through the neutral zone scot-free.
The Islanders have played with speed and aggressiveness for much of the season, defying the club’s profile going into the season, as well as its age. On Thursday, they looked and played slow, letting the Predators cut off open ice and falling back into their own zone again and again. Their defensive-zone structure crumbled.
“That was a tough first period,” Kyle Palmieri said.
And though the Islanders closed within a goal of another comeback, the first period loomed as the reason they couldn’t get it.
Cal Clutterbuck got one back with a deflection off Pelech’s shot at 15:41 of the second, giving the Islanders a two-goal deficit and a fighter’s chance going into the third. And in the final period, Palmieri would pull the Islanders within a goal, scoring from the low slot just 4:32 into the period.
But this comeback effort was too little, too late.
Parssinen put a dagger into the Islanders’ hopes with a deflection on Mikael Granlund’s shot just six seconds into a Nashville power play, at 9:52 of the third, to make it 5-3 and pull a game that had been trending in the Isles’ direction back into the Predators’ grasp. This time, for good, as Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s power-play goal with 4:21 to go could only make it 5-4.
It was no secret to the Islanders that they could not score comeback victories in perpetuity — at some point, a bad first period was going to overcome a good third period. This, though, was as stark a reminder as could be of the need to play for 60 minutes.
“As the game goes on, we play better and we get things flowing right off the hop. It really changes things,” Lee said. “The starts right now aren’t good enough, and tonight was indicative of that.”