The New York Islanders blew another lead last night, falling 6-3 to the Florida Panthers.
With Alexander Romanov unavailable, Mike Reilly moved up to play with Noah Dobson, while Dennis Cholowski got into his first game of the season on the bottom pairing with Scott Mayfield. Meanwhile, Matt Martin, who just signed a one-year contract with the team, checked into action on the fourth line, while Pierre Engvall was also called up for his first game of the season. Semyon Varlamov got the start.
The Islanders had a great start, with Dennis Cholowski just throwing a puck to the net and beating Spencer Knight through traffic, opening the scoring just a minute and a half into the game. Then under five minutes later, Kyle Palmieri got a stick on a point shot and ended up being able to bury the rebound, extending the lead.
New York wasn’t done there, and still with over eight minutes to go in the opening frame, Maxim Tsyplakov’s shot went wide, but Brock Nelson got to a bounce off the end boards to beat Knight, giving the Islanders an early 3-0 lead.
The Panthers did get on the board under two minutes later though, with the Islanders allowing Sam Reinhart to go in alone and beat Varlamov. Overall though, it was a strong opening frame for New York, and they retained a multi-goal lead through 20 minutes.
Fairly early in the second period though, the Panthers were able to cut the lead to one off a goal from Matthew Tkachuk after the Islanders couldn’t get the puck out, where he gave Varlamov a couple of shots prior to (and even after) scoring.
Florida had all the momentum immediately afterwards, and following an unsuccessful Islanders’ power play, the teams traded chances, with each team hitting a post. But with under two minutes to go in the period, where Mackie Samoskevich took the puck around the net to score on a wraparound, tying the game through 40 minutes.
Then about six minutes into the third period, the Panthers took their first lead of the game when Matthew Tkachuk just threw a puck on net that Varlamov directed off Sam Bennett and in, leaving New York trailing. Then only minutes later, Tkachuk beat Varlamov with his second goal of the game on a power play, making it a 5-3 game.
New York had a late power play with the net empty to try to mount a comeback, but Gustav Forsling nailed an empty netter, securing the 6-3 win for Florida.
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It’s almost unbelievable how the Islanders have so consistently been able to blow leads. In the five games in which they’ve scored a goal this season, here’s a tally:
- OT loss to Utah: Gave up tying goal with 1:54 remaining in third period
- SO win over Montreal: Gave up tying goal with 2:10 remaining in third period
- OT win over New Jersey: Gave up tying goal with 1:29 remaining in third period
- Loss to Florida: Blew a three-goal lead and gave up six unanswered goals
Factoring in the three shutout losses, the Islanders have either blown a lead, or been shutout in seven of their eight games so far.
In terms of the game itself, it’s just another instance of inconsistency. The Islanders looked great early, then really just struggled to sustain any momentum as the game went on. They actually did have some great chances at points after the third goal, but credit to Spencer Knight, who recovered to put together a really good back 40 minutes.
In terms of the decisions to bring in Martin and Engvall: the team wasn’t getting much in the way of depth offense, so I don’t think making a change is the worst move. But with Martin, I just struggle to see that he’s going to be much of a difference-maker at this stage. Then with Engvall, as was even made clear coming into the year, he isn’t the type of player who’s going to be impactful in a fourth line role, and they decided to try it out anyways.
Even in Patrick Roy’s post-game availability, he seemed to imply the decision for Engvall to come back up to the Islanders was one from Lou Lamoriello, and it’s a little questionable as to whether it’s something Roy even supported.
The team’s third pairing also struggled. Scott Mayfield in particular was on the ice for three of the four even strength goals against.
Then in goal, while Ilya Sorokin has been excellent so far, Semyon Varlamov has struggled a little bit this year. New York needs to find a way to protect leads regardless, but a couple of the goals given up last night were ones that Varlamov just needs to stop.
It’s a big missed opportunity for New York to pick up points, falling to 3-3-2 on the season. They’ll be back in action on Tuesday for the first half of a back-to-back set, when they host the Anaheim Ducks.
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
- Islanders outplay Red Wings, but suffer another shutout loss
- Islanders allow late goal, but get past Devils in overtime
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