Islanders faltering with loss to St. Louis
Photo credit: AP | St. Louis Blues' T.J. Oshie, right, battles for position with New York Islanders' Jack Hillen (38) in the third period. (November 21, 2009)
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Nov. 21: Blues 4, Islanders 1
ST. LOUIS - Despite a strong start to a daunting seven-game road trip - earning six out of eight possible points in the first four games - the Islanders since have dropped two straight, falling to the St. Louis Blues, 4-1, last night at Scottrade Center.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead in the first period but gave up four unanswered goals, two of them by David Perron. Perron scored twice in the first 5:02 of the third period to sap the Islanders' spirits. They fell to 8-8-7.
"They outworked us," Trent Hunter said. "They beat us to the puck and they seemed to want it more. We have to be willing to outwork teams, especially on the road."
"That was the case," Josh Bailey agreed. "You never feel good about saying that, but when you're the road team, you have to be the harder-working team."
The Blues put the game away on Perron's third-period goals. After Islanders goaltender Dwayne Roloson made a stop on Blues defenseman Barret Jackman's one-timer from the left point, Perron slipped the rebound past his left pad to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead at 1:15.
Making the play of the night, Perron scored his second goal with a flashy between-the-legs move to blow past defenseman Mark Streit and make it 4-1 at 5:02 in the third.
All the hard work that went into the Islanders' splendid start to this road trip seemed to evaporate with this second loss in two nights.
"Our backcheck was our biggest nemesis," Islanders coach Scott Gordon said. "We gave them too much space on their entries, and they're too offensively dynamic of a team to do that against. I can't even believe they're .500. That blows my mind."
The Islanders opened the scoring, then did little. For the second straight game, Hunter gifted one of his teammates with a beautiful setup pass. Last night the benefactor was Josh Bailey. Bailey wristed a shot from the right circle to beat Blues goaltender Chris Mason at 5:10 of the first period to give the Islanders the lead.
The Blues tied it less than three minutes later when Eric Brewer scored his first goal of the season at 8:02.
The Islanders controlled most of the second period but couldn't find the net. The Blues took the lead on Patrik Berglund's quick wrister that beat Roloson at 15:23 of the second.
"We didn't do some of the things we normally do," said Roloson, who finished with 22 saves, "and pucks wound up in the back of the net because of it."
