The New York Islanders suffered another shutout loss last night, falling 1-0 to the Detroit Red Wings at home.
With Anthony Duclair likely out long-term, Simon Holmstrom was moved up to the top line, while Casey Cizikas joined the third line, and Liam Foudy got into his first regular season game with the Islanders on the fourth line. Meanwhile, Ilya Sorokin got the start.
First Period
The Islanders looked good early, getting the first five shots of the game, including some good chances courtesy of Brock Nelson, Maxim Tsyplakov and Adam Pelech. Despite New York having the momentum through much of the first half of the period though, Vladimir Tarasenko put a nice pass out front to Patrick Kane, who beat Sorokin on the Red Wings’ first shot of the game.
New York did continue to look good after giving up the goal, which also ended up being the only real chance they allowed all period. Simon Holmstrom then had an excellent late opportunity caused by a turnover from Bo Horvat’s forecheck, but he was denied by Alex Lyon. As a result, New York remained down after what was a strong opening period, where they outshot Detroit 8-3.
Second Period
Detroit came out a bit stronger to start the second period, and Lucas Raymond had a good early chance in the first minute. The Red Wings had an early power play from there, and while Mathew Barzal had the Islanders’ best chance of the frame off a pass from Alexander Romanov shortly after, he was robbed on a big glove save by Alex Lyon.
Noah Dobson had another opportunity for the Islanders, cutting to the net and missing wide, before Sorokin had to make a nice glove save on Alex DeBrincat. The Islanders did have two power play opportunities late in the period from there, but couldn’t convert. So by the end of the frame, New York had once again outshot the Red Wings by a wide margin once again, but remained down.
Third Period
Bo Horvat had the Islanders’ first good chance of the third period off a rush, and then Simon Holmstrom had another great opportunity off a pass from Barzal near the midway mark of the frame, but both were stopped by Lyon.
New York continued to sustain pressure after that, and had another power play chance with about five minutes to go in the third period, but still couldn’t get much going. Patrick Roy called a timeout from there and the Islanders pulled Sorokin for the extra attacker, but never really got set-up again in the offensive zone with possession, and time ran out for a 1-0 loss.
Takeaways
It’s a tough result, in a game where New York deserved a better fate. They outshot Detroit by a massive 29-11 margin, and were controlling the play through the majority of the game. The Islanders certainly had their chances but just couldn’t finish, and Alex Lyon had to be excellent to get Detroit the win.
Defensively, the Islanders looked great. I mean, that probably goes without saying any time you only allow 11 shots in a game, but they gave the Red Wings pretty much nothing to work with in the way of rush chances, and never let Detroit really build pressure.
As much as you want to take away the positives though, that’s another game they really need to find a way to win. Like the Islanders, Detroit is likely to be a team on the playoff bubble this season. So the games New York loses at home to a team that they’re likely to be battling with for a postseason spot end up being the points (or lack thereof) which could come back to bite later.
It also now marks the Islanders’ third time being shutout in just six games. Again, they’ve had their chances to score in each one of those losses, but being not able to capitalize on their opportunities is quickly becoming a story to track. I was a little less concerned after the loss to St. Louis, given the Islanders were fresh off scoring a combined 10 goals across their games against Utah and Colorado. But now, it’s becoming a bit of a trend. The Duclair injury won’t help that either of course, and the lack of scoring also wasn’t aided by the power play going 0-for-3, which now hasn’t converted on its last eight opportunities.
But the top forwards need to find ways to produce. The second line has maybe been the most consistent to this point in terms of generating chances from game to game, and the top line was naturally going to be less effective with Holmstrom over Duclair. But the team needs their top players to score. Not having a single forward with more than three points in six games is a tough look, and the lack of finishing may be the Islanders’ biggest hurdle to this point early in the year.
So while the performance itself was very strong, it’s still a really disappointing outcome. The Islanders’ schedule also gets a little tougher in the immediate future – they’ll face the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers in a back-to-back set, beginning on Friday.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- Can the Islanders take a step forward this season?
- Islanders announce roster, Pierre Engvall clears waivers
- Islanders lose back-and-forth season opener, fall 5-4 to Utah in overtime
- Islanders begin road trip with shutout loss to Stars
- Islanders score six goals, take down Avalanche for first win of season
- Islanders wrap up road trip with overtime loss to Blues
- Islanders beat Canadiens in marathon shootout, but Duclair injured in win
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