Islanders allow season-high eight goals to Penguins, fall out of second in Metropolitan Division
Ilya Sorokin of the Islanders looks on as the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate their fifth goal of the second period at UBS Arena on Monday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
A defensive performance like this just won’t do in the playoffs.
If the Islanders, who squandered two, two-goal leads to the Penguins, make it. They certainly struggled through this potential postseason preview allowing a season-high in goals.
“We were just awful defensively,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “Guys behind us, breakaways, losing puck battles."
The Penguins, with a five-goal second period and seven straight goals overall as they frequently found themselves on odd-man rushes, breezed into second place in the Metropolitan Division with an 8-3 win on Monday night at UBS Arena. The Islanders, concluding a 3-2-0 homestand, dropped to third, only one point back but having played one extra game and they are also just one point ahead of the fourth-place Blue Jackets, who have also played one fewer game.
“We gave 11 chances in that second period,” coach Patrick Roy said. “That was probably one of our worst games defensively in a while. We can’t give that many chances and think we’re going to win hockey games.”
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Penguins held a 23-6 edge in high-danger chances skating five-on-five. That included a 13-1 discrepancy in the second period.
The Islanders (42-28-5) conclude a back-to-back in Buffalo on Tuesday night. It will be interesting to see if Roy turns back to Ilya Sorokin, who allowed seven goals on 28 shots, or gives the crucial start to struggling backup David Rittich (14-9-3, 2.78 goals-against average, .894 save percentage).
Roy said no decision had been made immediately after Monday’s debacle as he and the coaching staff wanted to talk to Sorokin and then discuss it.
“He’s been so good for us and we can’t play like that in front of him,” Kyle MacLean said of Sorokin, a leading candidate to win the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie. “He deserves better.”
But a clue to Roy’s decision might be gleaned from Sorokin’s previous shaky start as he allowed six goals in a 7-3 loss in Montreal on March 21 before also being pulled in the third period in favor of Rittich. But Roy went back to Sorokin the next night and he made 26 saves in a crucial 1-0 win over the visiting Blue Jackets.
Sorokin, who received encouragement and consolation from goalie coach Sergei Naumovs in the postgame dressing room, said he was not looking back on that experience, which marked the first time he’d started back-to-back games this season.
“It’s a new game,” Sorokin said. “You don’t know what will happen in a game.”
The Penguins (37-21-16), who got 20 saves from Arturs Silovs, had Sidney Crosby (two assists) back in the lineup after he missed one game with a lower-body issue but an upper-body injury kept fellow future Hall of Famer Evgeni Malkin sidelined for the fourth straight match.
Still, 15 different Penguins notched at least one point with Anthony Mantha and Rickard Rakell both scoring twice and Justin Brazeau adding three assists.
The Penguins needed just three minutes, 34 seconds to overcome the Islanders’ second two-goal advantage as they closed the second period with four straight tallies for a 5-3 lead.
Mathew Barzal, who had made it 2-0 at 2:56 of the second period by snapping a nine-game goal drought, found Brayden Schenn at the right post for a 3-1 lead at 9:17.
But Rakell’s shorthanded tip of Bryan Rust’s feed started the Penguins’ rally at 11:01.
“It was definitely a turning point in that game,” Roy said. “But, after that, we had the chance to get back in the game and we didn’t match the game as well as we did in the first half of the game. It could be a line change or losing battles in the corner. Our stick was not as good and it’s things that we’ve been doing so well lately. I guess we just had a bad one in the system.”
Defenseman Ryan Shea connected on a one-timer at 13:29 and Mantha got to the crease to put the Penguins ahead at 14:35.
Anders Lee’s power-play goal at the crease opened the scoring at 1:27 of the second period.
Avery Hayes made it 6-3 at 6:06 of the third period to finish a three-on-one rush after Sorokin stopped the first two shots. Rakell ended Sorokin’s outing with a seventh goal at 7:54.
“We know what we did,” Pulock said. “We know what’s wrong. We know what we need to do to play the right way and that’s regrouping mentally for [Tuesday]. That’s all that matters right now.”
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.
More Islanders
