The New York Islanders continue to surprise us. “Lose a critical home game to the Penguins” was definitely in our probability set, but “have the tables flipped in an 8-goal second period of an 8-3 blowout” was not.
That 8-3 final looks like a 5-3 game with three Patrick Roy empty netters, but it wasn’t that. After a scoreless and pretty even first period, the second period got weird. Islanders took a 2-0 lead only to fall apart. They gave up five in the middle frame — one game after they pulled off that same trick against the Florida Panthers — to enter the third period trailing 5-3 somehow.
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Reversing the recent D-pair changes didn’t help. The Penguins, who leap the Islanders for sole possession of second place in the Metro with the regulation win, tacked on three more in the third to remove all doubt.
[NHL Gamecenter | Game Summary | Event Summary | Natural Stat Trick]
It wasn’t a great game for talisman Ilya Sorokin, of course (and co-talisman Matthew Schaefer went pointless and minus-2), but the defense was atrocious in front of him.
Still, one of the harbinger deflation points was on their power play, which was responsible for the opening goal by Anders Lee but then gave that back on its second opportunity. Just after the Islanders restored their two-goal lead on another Brayden Schenn goal with smooth neutral zone transition from Cal Ritchie, the power play gave up a shorthanded goal by Rickard Rakell to cut the deficit to one again.
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It was lethargic work overall defending the counterattack, but Emil Heineman was stargazing as his man drove the net and Adam Boqvist defended the passer.
Two minutes later, it was tied, and a minute after that, Pittsburgh pulled ahead for good. Mo Anthony Mantha joined Rakell in scoring a pair.
It’s a parity league, so these things happen. But it’s just bizarre how the Islanders can fall asleep against the Blackhawks, hang tough and get a regulation win against the Stars, erase an early deficit to storm the Panthers, and then do this with the Penguins all in a little over a week.
Up Next
Tomorrow night in Buffalo is no longer a “bonus if we get something” game. They’ve got to get a point or two. There will be lots of other Eastern games that matter that night, and though the Isles will still finish the night in a playoff spot no matter what, their primary chasers from the outside each have two games in hand.
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