Islanders shut out for second straight game in loss to Vegas

LAS VEGAS — The good: The Islanders snapped a streak of seven straight games in which they allowed at least three goals. The bad: They haven’t scored in two games, plus four seconds.

Unable to generate enough chances from near the net, the Islanders lost to Vegas, 1-0, at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night as they were outshot 43-19, including 20-4 in a one-sided second-period.

“I didn’t mind our first and third, but our second, I thought we lost way too many battles,” coach Barry Trotz said. “We didn’t have enough chances. We need more chances.”

The Islanders (33-18-6) started the road trip with a 5-0 loss to the Predators in Nashville on Thursday night that left Trotz fuming over his team’s turnover-prone performance and lack of urgency.

The Islanders, who remain in third place in the Metropolitan Division by one point over the Blue Jackets and Flyers, were blanked for the fourth time this season. They were last shut out in back-to-back games on March 19 and 21, 2019 — 5-0 to the visiting Bruins and 4-0 to the Canadiens in Montreal, respectively.

“I thought we had a good start today,” said Semyon Varlamov, brilliant at times in the Islanders’ net. “Then we sit back in the second period and Vegas started creating scoring chances. We know where we are in the standings. Every game is important because we’re battling for the playoffs. There’s a lot of games left, but we have to find that consistency in scoring goals.”

Marc-Andre Fleury was rarely tested for Vegas (30-22-8) in his 60th career shutout until Varlamov was pulled for an extra skater with 2:11 left in regulation.

“Some of the game, I thought we pushed the pace and had some good looks,” Mathew Barzal said.

Vegas’ 20 shots in the second were the most the Islanders have allowed in a period this season, and Reilly Smith finally gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead with 34.7 seconds left. Varlamov tried to leave the puck for defenseman Nick Leddy behind the crease, but Jonathan Marchessault got there instead. Smith was free at the right post behind Derick Brassard.

“It’s been one thing or another the last few games where it’s execution or a play where we don’t commit to it and it ends up in the back of our net,” Trotz said.

Varlamov made his best save at 16:35 of the second period, diving to his right and using his stick to swipe away Paul Stastny’s look at the open net from the left post. Varlamov also had to make a shorthanded stop on Smith at the net after defenseman Ryan Pulock lost the puck at the left point while trying to line up a shot.

Rookie defenseman Noah Dobson had a nightmarish second period. A turnover led to an early scoring chance for Vegas, he iced the puck trying to clear the zone at 8:05 and he then negated the final 47 seconds of the Islanders’ second power play by tripping defenseman Nate Schmidt at 14:34.

Trotz indicated he is ready to sit Dobson in favor of Sebastian Aho, a healthy scratch for the 18th straight game.

The game started with Ross Johnston and Vegas’ Ryan Reaves engaging in a heavyweight bout off the game’s opening faceoff.

The first-period chippiness continued at 10:29 as Vegas defenseman Nick Holden drilled Barzal face-first into the boards behind the Golden Knights’ net. Lee pushed his way to get to Holden, with both receiving five-minute fighting majors. Surprisingly, Holden avoided a boarding penalty and Lee was not whistled for instigating.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

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.