3 Takeaways: Islanders Extend Point Streak to Five Games in Shootout Loss

The New York Islanders managed to earn a point in Nashville, albeit in a losing effort, as they suffered a 3-2 shootout loss to the Predators on Saturday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena. With the point, the Islanders extended their point streak to five games (3-0-2).

Islanders' goalie Ilya Sorokin finished the game with 21 saves on 23 shots. For the Predators Juuse Saros made 34 saves on 36 shots in the win.
The Islanders' offense was powered by the power play, with man-advantage strikes from Anthony Beauvillier and Oliver Wahlstrom. Both skaters also took shootout attempts for the team, but both were denied by Saros.
Sorokin, who entered Saturday's matchup fresh off back-to-back shutouts last weekend, had his lengthy shutout streak snapped as Tanner Jeannot put forth a two-goal performance. The Nashville winger scored the Preds' opening goal in the second period and sent the game into overtime with his third-period tally. In the shootout, Filip Forsberg, who was credited with the game-deciding goal, and Roman Josi beat Sorokin to provide Nashville with the victory.
"I liked our game, this is a hard building to come into," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "We were emotionally engaged right from the start. They've got a tremendous power play; they can throw it around and they were dangerous. Our penalty kill was committed and made a couple of adjustments and got better as it went on. Our power play got us a point in terms of scoring our goals tonight and I liked a lot of our game. If I just take the 60 minutes of the game, overall, I thought we deserved to at least get a point and maybe even win the game."

POWER PLAY POWERS OFFENSE

Despite not facing each other since Feb. 13, 2020, there was no shortage of animosities exchanged between teams, which allotted for a plethora of action on special teams. The Islanders' scoring was boosted by its successful efforts on the power play, where the team notched two power-play goals: a first-period strike from Beauvillier and Wahlstrom's second-period snipe. In doing so, the Islanders doubled their season total on power-play goals to four.
"Just to get the power play going adds a little boost offensively and adds momentum," Brock Nelson said. "When you're able to cash in - you don't know how many opportunities you're going to get - tonight it was four. Tonight, we were able to get both units going, that's huge. That'll help our offense."
The Islanders made the most of their first man advantage of the game after killing off one early penalty and surviving two minutes of 4v4 in the first period. On Ryan Johansen's penalty for holding the stick, the Islanders converted on Beauvillier's one-timer from the right circle following a tape-to-tape sequence from Mathew Barzal to Josh Bailey at 14:46.

The chippiness between teams didn't stop after Beauvillier's power-play tally, as the Islanders went on a subsequent power play in the final two minutes of play. They then took their second penalty of the game with 6.7 seconds left in the period as Noah Dobson's attempt to break up Luke Kunin's shorthanded breakaway resulted in a holding the stick penalty for the young Islanders defenseman.
The Islanders killed off Dobson's penalty and proceeded to relinquish an even-strength goal from the Preds at 6:54. Shortly after the Preds tied the score 1-1 in the second period, Wahlstrom doubled the Islanders' lead at 12:04.
Cal Clutterbuck drew a hooking penalty on Mikael Granlund to provide the Islanders with their third power-play of the game, where Wahlstrom converted. Nelson collected a pass from Ryan Pulock and flipped a backhanded pass across the slot to Wahlstrom atop the left faceoff circle. Wahlstrom walked in the circle, picked his spot and unleashed his signature snipe over Saros' right shoulder to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead.

In addition to the Islanders' success on the power play, the team went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
"The penalty kill was equally big today," Nelson said. "It's a tough test, they have a lot of skill on that other unit out there. Everybody buys in, works for each other, blocks shots and commits to everything that needs to be done. Sorokin backs it up and makes some big saves. The penalty kill, that's a big part of our team."

SOLID SHOWING FROM SOROKIN IN SHOOTOUT LOSS

Coming off back-to-back shutouts last weekend against Arizona (3-0) and Vegas (2-0) that earned him the NHL's Third Star of the Week nod, Sorokin made his seventh-straight start of the young season.
ISLES-PREDATORS
ISLANDERS ARTICLES
Gamecenter
Rapid Recap
ISLANDERS-PREDATORS VIDEO
Full Highlights
Nelson and Wahlstrom Postgame
Bailey and Beauvillier Postgame
Trotz Postgame
The Russian sophomore stood tall in the opening period of the game, making 11 saves as tensions quickly escalated. Sorokin robbed two Grade-A chances from Forsberg in the period. The first, came on the Preds' first power play five minutes into the game, where Sorokin sprawled across the crease to deny Forsberg's goal-line one-timer. The second steal came midway through the period where he smothered Forsberg's low-slot one-timer off a rapid passing sequence from the Preds' offense.
After starting the second period on an unsuccessful power play - carried over from Dobson's first period penalty - the Preds capitalized on what was a skewed period as the Islanders held a 15-5 shot advantage in the middle frame.
Upon enforcing a turnover at the Islanders' blueline to regain possession, Jeannot collected Dante Fabbro's feed, jetted up the ice and ripped his shot on net. Yakov Trenin supplied the net-front presence to shield Sorokin's view and jumped to allow Jeannot's shot to zip by and beat Sorokin through his right elbow.
Jeannot's goal ended Sorokin's shutout streak at a career-long 146:54 minutes where he made 81-consecutive saves in that span.
Sorokin made a strong stop in the third period as he smothered a two-on-none chance for the Preds and once again turned aside a Forsberg chance with the kick save on a low shot.
"Nothing surprises me with Sorokin," Nelson said. "A couple of those plays when we're just messing around in practice 2-on-0, breakaways and whatever and he's never out of a save. That was a huge save for us, a timely save and just gives us confidence. Obviously, you don't want to turn the puck over, but knowing if you do have a breakdown, you have a guy who is never out of it is going to make a big save and turn that momentum for us."
While Sorokin came up with a huge save, Nashville sent the game into overtime with Jeannot's second goal of the game at 11:48.
Matt Benning overpowered Barzal along the wall and centered a shot on net. With traffic around the goal mouth, the puck caromed off Jeannot's shin pad and past Sorokin to tie the score 2-2 for the Predators.
After being denied on multiple accounts by Sorokin, Forsberg finally beat the Islanders' netminder in the shootout as did Josi to provide Nashville with the extra point. Wahlstrom and Beauvillier took the shootout attempts for the Islanders, but both were denied by Saros.

POINTS IN FIVE-STRAIGHT

While the Islanders aren't leaving Nashville with the two points like they'd have hoped for, the team has put together much more cohesive efforts and displayed performances more aligned with their identity in this stretch of the last five games.

"Of course, you want the two points, but I thought it was a pretty good road game," Bailey said. "Barry mentioned after the game, obviously we wanted to win, but we're collecting points. We played well; they get a break late in the game to tie it up. We'll take it. I thought it was a pretty solid effort, could have went the other way."
In addition to getting results and being able to collect valuable points, the Islanders also received a boost to their lineup as Semyon Varlamov dressed as the backup for Saturday's game. While the veteran netminder backed up Sorokin, it was still a positive sight for the Islanders to have last season's goalie tandem back in action. Varlamov had missed the entirety of training camp and preseason, along with six regular-season games due to a nagging injury from last year's playoff run.
The Russian netminder confirmed following Thursday's practice that he was feeling "ready to play" and proved so with his game-status on Saturday.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders continue their road trip as they head to Montreal on Nov. 4 for their first game in Canada this season. Puck drop between the Islanders and Canadiens is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.