3 Takeaways: Islanders Fall 3-1 in Pittsburgh

The setting was different. The lines were different. The score was different, but the result stayed the same, as the New York Islanders dropped their second game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a week, falling 3-1 at PPG Paints Arena.

Samuel Bolduc scored the lone goal for the Islanders, while Lars Eller (2G) and Noel Acciari scored for the Penguins. Ilya Sorokin stopped 35 of 37 in the loss, while Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 37 of 38 in the win.

After sweeping the Pittsburgh Penguins a year ago, the Islanders have now lost two straight against their Metropolitan Division rivals. With the loss, the Islanders are 0-1-0 to start their four-game road trip and fall to 7-6-3 on the road this season.

“It's frustrating. It's disappointing. We played well enough to win,” Head Coach Lane Lambert said. “Both goalies played well, and we had some real good looks. We couldn't get it by [Nedeljkovic] and that was a difference in the game, but it was a game that chances went both ways.”

ALEX NEDELJKOVIC STYMIES ISLES

Five days after getting shut out by Tristan Jarry, the Islanders ran into another hot Penguins goalie in Alex Nedeljkovic.

The first period was the Nedeljkovic show, as the Penguins netminder stopped all 14 Islanders shots, including a Casey Cizikas on a breakaway early, which proved pivotal. The Penguins went back the other way and scored 24 seconds later, with Jansen Harkins passing around a sliding Alex Romanov on a two-on-one rush to Lars Eller for the icebreaker at 2:18.

Nedeljkovic came up big again on the Islanders first power play of the game, racking up four saves, including a desperation dive across his net.

“That first power play I think three or four of those saves we could have had and then you know some of the ones at the end,” Scott Mayfield said. “We just didn't get there bounces. One bounced off my skate of in front of squeaked in and we couldn't get that on the other end.”

The Islanders killed off a five-on-three penalty spanning the end of the first and start of the second periods, but couldn’t capitalize on the momentum, as the Penguins extended their lead to 2-0. Drew O’Connor’s shot was deflected by Noel Acciari before deflecting again off Scott Mayfield’s skate and through Ilya Sorokin at the 2:20 mark.

The Islanders had their looks the rest of the way, but Nedeljkovic was equal to the task. Cizikas was denied again by Nedeljkovic, as he whacked a puck out of the air, but into the goalie’s pads. Anders Lee and Mathew Barzal followed it up with chances that laid in the crease, but ultimately did not cross the line. All six of Brock Nelson’s shots were stopped by Nedeljkovic, as well as five from Barzal and four from Lee.

The Islanders finally broke Nedeljkovic’s shutout bid with 6:09 to play, as Samuel Bolduc stepped into a rebound in the slot and beat the Penguins’ goalie high. The goal was Bolduc’s first of the season, but Eller iced the game with an empty-netter. Nedeljkovic was named the game's first star.

“We played a good game,” Cizikas said. “It was a tight game the entire time and their goalie made a lot of big saves to keep the lead for them, so we just have to keep attacking and keep doing what we're doing and sticking to our game.”

ISLES FALL BEHIND IN FACE-OFFS

The Islanders had an off-night at the dot, winning 25 of 65 face-offs (38%), which led to plenty to Penguins possessions.

None of the Islanders four regular centers finished above 50%, with JG Pageau going 8-for-18 (44%), Bo Horvat going 8-for-20 (40%), Casey Cizikas going 3-for-9 (33%) and Brock Nelson going 1-for-8 (13%). Sidney Crosby won 15-for-24 (63%) for the Penguins, while Jeff Carter won 8-of-10 (80%).

“That's just the way it goes sometimes,” Cizikas said. “We have good centermen on this team. There are good centerman around the league sometimes it goes your way sometimes the bounces don't.”

Granted, the Penguins entered the game as the league’s top faceoff team, winning 55.1% of their draws, but the usually solid Islanders entered the game 12^th with a 50.7% win rate.

The 38% win rate marked the third-worst for the Islanders this season, with only games against Buffalo (32.1%) and Montreal (32.7%) coming beneath it, though both of those games came on the second nights of back-to-back sets.

“They're a good face off team, but we did not do a good enough in the circles,” Lambert said. “As a result we're starting without the puck and against a team like that you have to win some faceoffs.”

MAYFIELD RETURNS, CIZIKAS IN, ENGVALL SCRATCHED

There were a handful of lineup changes on Sunday night.

Scott Mayfield drew back in after missing eight games with an upper-body injury, replacing Robert Bortuzzo. Mayfield skated 17:23 – including 3:30 shorthanded – on a pairing with Samuel Bolduc. Mayfield had one shot, five total attempts, two hits and a block. Lambert said he thought Mayfield didn’t show any signs of rust in his return.

Casey Cizikas returned after missing Friday’s game with an illness. Cizikas centered his usual linemates in Matt Martin – who dropped the gloves off the opening draw with John Ludvig – and Cal Clutterbuck. Cizikas said he made a conscious effort to keep shifts short, but played hard, finishing the game with three shots – including two grade-A chances – and three hits in 11:41 TOI.

Hudson Fasching was bumped up to the second line, replacing Pierre Engvall, who was a healthy scratch. Engvall had gone the previous 10 games without a point and was healthy scratched for the second time this season, previously sitting on Nov. 9 against Boston.

“Every night there's going to be somebody scratched,” Lambert said. “We have a number of players here, so if you're the guy who gets scratched, you have to come in and play better next game.”

NEXT GAME

The Islanders head west, continuing their four-game road trip on Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. Puck drop is at 9 p.m. et.