Islanders suffer first shutout of season in loss at Red Wings

DETROIT — Well, at least the Islanders didn’t lose a goalie to injury.

Semyon Varlamov was pulled by the NHL’s concussion spotter but made it back to the net. Otherwise, little went right to end this three-game Midwestern swing as the Islanders had their five-game winning streak snapped in a 3-0 loss to the Red Wings on Saturday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena.

“Give them credit, they played well,” coach Lane Lambert said after the Islanders were shut out for the first time this season. “They were taking away time and space. But I didn’t think that we played fast enough. There’s no excuse for it. To have 30 shot attempts in the first two periods and then end the game with 63, clearly we didn’t get to our game and move the puck quick enough through the first 40 minutes.”

The Islanders (7-5-0) went 0-for-3 on the power play and allowed a five-on-three power play goal and their first shorthanded goal of the season. Varlamov finished with 22 saves while Ville Husso made 12 of his 24 saves in the third period for the Red Wings (6-3-2).

Varlamov exited at 11:47 of the second period after teammate Zach Parise hit the Red Wings’ Lucas Raymond from behind at the crease. Raymond’s helmet collided with Varlamov’s mask.

Varlamov, who had stopped 19 of 20 shots to that point, headed to the Islanders’ dressing room.

“I saw [Raymond] alone in front with a bouncing puck,” Parise said. “To me, it looked like he was pretty close to knocking it in. It’s a desperation play. I feel horrible that I knocked him into Varly and put him out of the game. Then, sure enough, first shot for Sorokie [Ilya Sorokin] is a breakaway. It’s like, ‘C’mon.’”

The Islanders got a power play on the sequence after Dylan Larkin went after Parise. But Pius Suter, getting to a loose puck in the neutral zone, beat Sorokin (one save) from the right circle to make it 2-0 at 12:51 of the second period.

Varlamov returned to start the third period.

“I got hit right in the head,” Varlamov said. “But I felt like I was ready to continue the game. I don’t [know] why they took me out because I was totally fine. I just shake it off a little bit and then I was ready to play again. But the rules are the rules and I had to go to the locker room and do some testing.

“I’m sure it was tough for [Sorokin] to come in and then, right away, they had a breakaway. It’s not easy to come in like that in the middle of the game. I’m glad I was able to come back and finish the game and give him some rest.”

The Islanders started slowly and gave up two early power plays as the Red Wings took the game’s first six shots and 11 of the first 13.

The Islanders kept drawing penalties in the second period.
Raymond caught Mathew Barzal with a clean check at the Red Wings’ blue line at 4:58 and Oliver Wahlstrom was penalized for roughing in the ensuing scrum. Defenseman Adam Pelech was then whistled for hooking Raymond on the penalty kill.

That allowed Raymond to open the scoring at 6:29 from the right post. Dominik Kubalik made it 3-0 at 10:13 of the third period to ensure the Islanders’ winning streak would end.

“When you win the first two [on the road], you want to get the third one,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “We had an opportunity here to do that and we just didn’t get it done.”