3 Takeaways: Isles Shut Out by Devils 4-0 

The New York Islanders were blanked by the New Jersey Devils 4-0 on Sunday afternoon in the second half of a back-to-back set. 

Timo Meier (1G, 1A), Jack Hughes (1G, 1A), Alexander Holtz and Chris Tierney (ENG) scored for the Devils, while Kaapo Kahkonen made all 36 saves for his first shutout of the season and first win as a Devil. Ilya Sorokin stopped 26 of 29 shots in the loss, as the Isles were shut out for the seventh time this season, but third time in the past eight games.

"We're in our building, we need to play better than this," Head Coach Patrick Roy said. "These are big games and we have to find ways to win these games. We just didn't do enough offensively."

The Islanders are now 1-6-1 in their last eight games and trail the season series to the Devils 0-2-1. With the loss, the Islanders’ record in the second half of back-to-back sets dropped to 0-6-3. 

With the loss, the Islanders (75 points) allowed the Devils (74 points) to pull within a point in the standings. The Washington Capitals (79 points) defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 on Sunday afternoon to leapfrog the Detroit Red Wings (78 points) for the second wild card spot in the East. The Isles are now four points behind the Caps with a game in-hand. The Isles are still six points back of the Philadelphia Flyers (81 points) after the Flyers fell 4-1 to the Florida Panthers.

ISLES ALLOW THREE GOALS IN SHORT SPAN:

The Islanders’ familiar woes of letting games slip in the middle frame and allowing goals and bunches were evident on Sunday in their shutout loss to the Devils. 

At the end of a strong defensive period where they blocked 11 shots, the Islanders found themselves in penalty trouble, taking three penalties in the span of 2:08 late in the first period. After killing off a brief five-on-three, the Islanders quickly found themselves down two men  to start the second period. The Devils capitalized 38 seconds into the frame, as Meier deflected the puck from the side of the crease to bury the icebreaker.

"We started the second period on a 5-on-3 and gave up a goal. That's going to happen, but that's where you have to find your best - right after that goal - and we weren't able to do that," Ryan Pulock said.

Instead of retaliating, a haphazard incident in the Islanders zone led to  New Jersey doubling their lead. Bo Horvat accidentally hit Noah Dobson with Kyle Palmieri getting caught up in the collision, taking three Islanders out of the play. The Devils quickly rushed up the ice for a three-on-one, as Hughes carried the puck through the neutral zone and moved in on Sorokin, wristing a shot at the 2:57 mark to double the Devils lead.

Roy said that mental mistakes at the wrong time costed his team goals.

"Three of our guys bumped into each other when it should have been a very plain and simple play," Roy said. "We need to find a way to get that mental side of the game in the right place. You cannot have moments like this in a game. It won't work. You won't win those games."

The Isles couldn’t stop the bleeding, as a turnover in the Islanders zone led to a quality chance for the Devils. Simon Nemec recovered and collected the puck, making a pass across the crease to Holtz, who took advantage of a wide-open net to extend New Jersey’s lead to 3-0 at 6:12 of the second period.  

The frustration boiled over at the end of the middle frame as the rivalry matchup got more heated. Anders Lee took a pair of five-minute majors for kneeing and fighting, along with a game misconduct. Timo Meier was issued two minutes instigating, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct, but  the Islanders killed off the last three minutes of Lee’s major.

"After those three goals, there was plenty of time left," Palmieri said. "We just didn't have enough to push back to find a way to get to our game and assert the way we need to play."

For the third time in seven games, the Islanders allowed three goals in the middle frame, similar to the 4-0 loss to the Sabres and 5-2 loss to the Rangers. It also marked the sixth time in seven games the Islanders have allowed three goals in one period.

OFFENSE, POWER PLAY COMES UP DRY:

In a contest where the Islanders desperately needed to win, their offense struggled to generate as they were shut out for the seventh time this season.

“We didn’t do a good enough job executing,” Palmieri said. 

The Islanders outshot the Devils 26-23 at five-on-five and recorded seven shots through five power-play opportunities, but their offense ultimately came up empty. Over the span of their last eight games, the Islanders power play has converted at 7.7% (2-for-26) and went 0-for-5 against the Devils.

“Our power play had the chance to make the difference and we didn’t score those goals,” Roy said. 

Palmieri had the Islanders closest chance, but his would-be goal was waved off immediately, as the winger swiped a rebound puck into the net with his hand. The Islanders outshot the Devils 13-7 in the third period, but couldn’t forge a comeback. Instead Tierney iced the game, scoring an empty-netter with 4:07 to play.

HOLMSTROM IN, MARTIN OUT:

Simon Holmstrom slotted back into the lineup in place of Matt Martin, who was a healthy scratch. Holmstrom skated 11:16 and took five shots (two attempted, three missed) and recorded one hit. After he was a healthy scratch on Saturday, the Swedish winger played with Kyle MacLean and Cal Clutterbuck but he skated with JG Pageau and Pierre Engvall in the third period.

“I thought he was okay, I like his speed,” Roy said of Holmstrom. “But the [whole team] just didn’t generate offense.”  

The only other lineup change was Sorokin in for Semyon Varlamov.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders have three days between games before they head to Florida to take on the Panthers in Sunrise. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.