Islanders fall flat to Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Islanders were 12 minutes from a four-game winning streak on Friday night in Anaheim. Barely 24 hours later, they are mired in an ugly two-game losing streak and headed home with faltering confidence and last place in the East firmly in their grasp after a 5-1 loss to the Coyotes.

"We had high expectations for this trip, and we got a win in Carolina [on Tuesday], but it's just not good enough, the way we've been playing," said Mark Streit, who was a minus-3 last night. "We just give games away for no reason."

In this one, the Islanders overcame a terrible opening few minutes -- they allowed a goal on the opponent's first shot on net for the ninth time in 39 games -- and got to the first intermission tied after Frans Nielsen's power-play stuff-in at the 10-minute mark of the first.

But the second period, with its long change to the bench, proved a stumbling block very quickly. After failing to get a dump-in deep enough, the Islanders tried to change all five of their players on the ice, and Keith Yandle fed Coyotes captain Shane Doan for a breakaway. His shot barely squeezed through the pads of Evgeni Nabokov (20 saves) at 1:39 of the second and the Islanders trailed again. This time, though, there was no rally.

Even though the Islanders' John Tavares had only a power-play assist, his line controlled play, as it has for the last five. But also as it's been of late, there was no support behind No. 91, as the best scoring chances generated by the other forwards came from the Nino Niederreiter-Jay Pandolfo-Tim Wallace line.

"We just got to keep working on it," said Michael Grabner, who hasn't had a goal in eight games. His center, Josh Bailey, has no goals in 12 games. Streit, who hasn't had an even-strength point in a month, has no goals in 23 games.

"They know what they need to do, and you hate to keep harping on it because then they're squeezing their sticks when they need to be relaxed around the net," Jack Capuano said of his goal-starved team. "The puck's not going in."

And it has gone in off nearly every mistake or breakdown against the Islanders. The Ducks scored four times on 20 shots Friday; the Coyotes had four on their first 16 shots last night, including three goals in the second period to take a 4-1 lead.

The Islanders' fragility had receded in wins over the struggling Flames and Oilers. Then a rally to grab two points against Carolina gave the Isles a thought that they could win when they weren't playing their best.

They were a P.A. Parenteau rebound goal away from keeping the scuffling Ducks down Friday, but the tide turned on them. It kept turning last night, and a final indignity came just before the final horn. Doan, the Coyotes' longtime captain, scored the first hat trick of his 16-year career with less than a second to play.

Now the Islanders head home to face teams that will cut them down even faster if they make the same mistakes. The Red Wings come calling Tuesday, the Flyers visit Thursday. Then it's the halfway mark of the season, and time will really be running short to try to avoid five straight top-five draft slots.

"We felt pretty good about ourselves [Friday] night, and we just collapsed," Nielsen said. "Tonight, we didn't even show up. It's not good enough."