Islanders' losing streak hits three with overtime loss to Senators
The Islanders’ Semyon Varlamov takes a water break during the second period against the Senators at UBS Arena on Saturday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Every game is crucial now with 16 remaining. Every point feels like a must-have. The Islanders, a veteran team, understand this very well as they try to squeeze into the playoffs.
Yet here was coach Patrick Roy’s damning assessment of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena that didn’t have to happen.
“It wasn’t enough, that’s for sure,” Roy said after the Islanders lost their third straight game and were passed for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot when the Red Wings beat the visiting Sabres, 4-1.
“Some of our guys made some bad decisions or bad plays at some key moments in the game. I felt that we gave [away] those four goals.”
The Islanders (29-22-15), who got 26 saves from Semyon Varlamov, finally scored a goal after back-to-back shutouts in Los Angeles and Buffalo to end a disappointing 2-2-0 road trip. But in Roy’s other damning assessment, the Islanders “were a little too pretty offensively.”
Brady Tkachuk completed his hat trick on a power-play goal with 24 seconds left in overtime after Bo Horvat was whistled for holding Tim Stutzle (three assists) at 3:05 of the extra period, allowing the Senators (28-33-4) to skate four-on-three. Casey Cizikas could not stop the cross-ice feed from Franklin Square’s Shane Pinto as he went to the ice.
The Islanders were able to salvage a point on Horvat’s power-play blast from the right point with 37.2 seconds left in regulation. They were skating six-on-four with Varlamov pulled for an extra skater after Mathieu Joseph was whistled for hooking at 18:10.
“Happy to get the point, but it should have never been that way,” Horvat said.
The Islanders will get another chance to play a full 60 minutes when they face off against the Rangers on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
They’ll have to do better than five first-period shots and 18 through the first two periods.
“I thought we generated some chances when we were getting pucks at the net,” said Kyle Palmieri, who gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead by beating Joonas Korpisalo (30 saves) through his pads on a sharp-angle shot at 16:22 of the second period. “There were times and chunks of the game where maybe we were looking for an extra pass or a better play just when getting to the net and causing chaos is one of the things that makes us successful.’’
The Senators tied it at 2-2 at 6:35 of the third period. Ridly Greig got the puck back from Stutzle on the rush for an easy tap-in at the left post as defenseman Noah Dobson was caught up ice.
That became 3-2 on Tkachuk’s power-play goal at 12:14, 16 seconds after Dobson sent the puck over the glass and was whistled for delay of game. Tkachuk had pulled the Senators into a 1-1 tie at 11:46 of the second period on the rush.
“We just gave that game away, that’s all we did,” Roy said. “We didn’t do a good job in the neutral zone and put that puck deep on the first goal. A bad pinch on the second goal. Throw a puck in the stands on the third goal. Then, on the fourth goal, losing our edge on an odd-man rush. I mean, c’mon, we are better than this.
“We have to be better than this. It’s not enough at this time of the year if we want to win those big games.”
The Islanders ended their goal drought at 126:15 when Matt Martin got free to the right post for an easy wraparound to make it 1-0 at 4:27 of the first period. Joseph collided with Korpisalo, keeping the goalie from sliding over for the save.
But the Islanders never built on that momentum.
“I think it’s pretty clear how important this game was,” Palmieri said. “For whatever reasons, we weren’t at our best. It’s a point and now we’ll just regroup and get ready for [Sunday].”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
