Islanders finally get a goal but suffer their third straight defeat with loss to Coyotes
Mathew Barzal #13 of the New York Islanders skates with the puck past Jakob Chychrun #6 of the Arizona Coyotes during the second period of the NHL game at Gila River Arena on February 17, 2020 in Glendale, Arizona. Credit: Getty Images/Christian Petersen
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Islanders didn’t show the exasperation that a third consecutive shutout certainly would have brought. They created decent scoring chances this time. But they still lost their third straight in regulation, the first time that’s happened under coach Barry Trotz.
The Islanders finally snapped their goal drought at 166 minutes, 46 seconds but lost to the Coyotes, 2-1, on Monday afternoon at Gila River Arena, spoiling defenseman Andy Greene’s debut.
The former Devils captain, who was acquired on Sunday,
notched his first point with his new team as Anthony Beauvillier redirected his shot from the left boards to bring the Islanders within a goal at 6:42 of the third period.
“We created enough scoring chances to score enough goals,” said Semyon Varlamov, who made 30 saves. “It’s just the puck is not going in the net. You ask me if it’s frustrating? Nobody likes to lose, that’s for sure. But I think we did a good job just battling through the whole game today.”
The Islanders (33-19-6) remain in third place in the Metropolitan Division, even with the Blue Jackets — who have played two extra games — and one point ahead of the Flyers.
The four-game western road trip opened with a 5-0 loss to the Predators and a 1-0 loss to the Golden Knights. The Islanders will conclude the trip on Wednesday night against the Avalanche.
Antti Raanta was brilliant for the Coyotes (30-24-8) in stopping 25 shots.
“You talk about a game of inches; it’s really a game of centimeters right now,” Trotz said. “Our team kept battling and that’s a real positive. I thought as much as they deserved to win that game, so did we.”
The Islanders hit the post or crossbar three times — on Jordan Eberle’s wrist shot at 12:32 of the first period, Nick Leddy’s slap shot at 17:01 of the second and Josh Bailey’s tip-in try at 13:04 of the third.
Plus a video review confirmed a no-goal call at 2:50 of the second period. Devon Toews’ feed deflected across the goal mouth with Eberle and Anders Lee lurking. The puck nearly crossed the line, but Raanta managed to get his left skate on it before the puck fully went over the red stripe.
Head coach Barry Trotz of the Islanders watches from the bench during the first period of the NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on February 17, 2020 in Glendale, Arizona. Credit: Getty Images/Christian Petersen
“Us three felt like we had a chance every time we went out there,” Lee said of his line with Eberle and Mathew Barzal, which had a combined eight shots and 19 total chances. “We’ve got to just keep generating them. They’re going to come.”
Raanta also turned aside Brock Nelson’s breakaway at 6:03 of the third period.
“Right now, it’s about our game, and we felt good about our game,” Derick Brassard said. “We felt it could’ve gone either way. Our game was a lot better today and that’s a positive sign for our team that we’ll eventually score more goals.”
Clayton Keller’s shot from the high slot deflected off Leddy to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead at 4:58 of the first period. The Coyotes went ahead 2-0 at 3:53 of the third period as Conor Garland got behind defenseman Scott Mayfield at the left post to redirect Christian Dvorak’s feed. Dvorak had won the faceoff from Leo Komarov after Komarov iced the puck.
“We got a goal,” Trotz said. “It probably eases things a little bit. If you go another game without a goal, you start to wonder what it’s going to take. We couldn’t get a second puck behind him and, on their second goal, we ice it and they get a loose puck. We’ve just got to do our job there.”
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.
