3 Takeaways: Islanders Fall 5-2 to Flames

The New York Islanders’ two-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday afternoon, as the Isles fell 5-2 to the Calgary Flames in matinee action at UBS Arena.

Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar led the way with his first-career hat trick, while Jonathan Huberdeau scored a power-play goal in the second period and Blake Coleman scored an empty-netter. Brock Nelson and JG Pageau scored third period goals for the Islanders.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 35-of-37 in the win, while Semyon Varlamov stopped 19 of 22 in the loss.

With the loss – coupled with a Detroit Red Wings comeback win – the Isles (56 points) sit three points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second wild card. They also sit four points back of the Red Wings (60 points) for the first wild card, with Detroit holding a game in hand.

ISLES DISCONNECTED IN START SLOW, MAKE A PUSH IN THE THIRD:

After playing perhaps their most complete game of the season on Thursday against Tampa, the Islanders could not duplicate the effort against the Flames.

The Isles were sluggish out of the gate, falling behind on MacKenzie Weegar’s first goal of the game at the 3:47 mark, as the defenseman scored on an end-to-end rush. The usually crisp Isles were just a little out of sync and it showed up in the scoresheet, with seven giveaways and zero takeaways in the first 20 minutes. That number grew to 11 giveaways and two takeaways after a second period that saw the Isles fall behind 3-0.

“We weren't as clean as we needed to be,” Captain Anders Lee said. “I don't know if we were as connected as a team the way we had been recently and kind of made it more difficult on ourselves in a couple of areas, like getting the puck out or getting the puck in.”

Calgary took a 2-0 lead on a Jonathan Huberdeau power-play goal at the 8:38 mark with Weegar netting his second of the game at the 15:16 mark. Weegar netted his 13^th and 14^th goals of the season on Saturday, taking the NHL lead in goals for defensemen.

The Islanders had a handful of chances in the second, notably a Bo Horvat breakaway was denied by Markstrom, but finally broke through in the third. Brock Nelson re-established the team lead with his 22^nd goal at the four-minute mark, beating a screened Markstrom to get the Islanders on the board.

Nelson’s goal led to an Isles push, with the Isles outshooting the Flames 18-3 in the final frame. They had their chances to close the gap, with Adam Pelech flinging a wrister off the crossbar midway through the third and had their lone power play in the third period, but could not convert. Blake Coleman made it 4-1 with an empty-netter, but the Isles kept chipping away, with JG Pageau scoring in a scramble to make it 4-2 after a Markstrom turnover. Weegar officially iced it with Calgary’s second empty-netter, which completed his first-career hat trick.

While the Isles weren’t able to pull off a comeback, Roy was encouraged by his team’s effort in the third.

“The guys were resilient and that's what I love about what I saw in that third,” Roy said. “Can we be better in the first 40? Yes, but I mean, we stuck to it and we battled, so if we could learn from this I think we’ll become a better hockey club.”

PENALTY KILL ALLOWS GOAL FOR SIXTH STRAIGHT GAME:

The Islanders penalty kill allowed a goal for the sixth-straight game on Saturday.

The PK went 0-for-1, as Jonathan Huberdeau deposited a Yegor Sharangovich rebound past Varlamov at 8:38. The shorthanded unit is now 9-for-17 in the past six games.

“We were unlucky, but we didn't get the job done, period,” Roy said of the PK. “And we have to get the job done. That was a key moment in the game because Bo has a really good chance just before that to make it a 1-1 game. And then we gave up that that goal made a 2-0 game and then you're digging that hole.”

Roy said he’s seeing some things he likes in the structure and the pressure, but that it’s just a matter of the Islanders stabilizing and then building their confidence down a man.

“I hope that we could build from one PK to two PKs to three and then get some confidence,” Roy said. “We’re below 70% and we know that won't do it for us to be a playoff team and in the playoffs. We need to find ways to do the job.”

VARLAMOV PLAYS 600^TH GAME, ROMANOV OUT, AHO IN:

Semyon Varlamov hit a milestone on Saturday, playing in his 600^th NHL game, becoming just the 54^th goalie in NHL history to reach the milestone.

Game 600 didn’t exactly get off to a great start for Varlamov, as the Isles netminder was beat by a MacKenzie Weegar wrister blocker side at 3:47. Varlamov settled in after the early goal and stopped 19 of 22 on the afternoon.

“It's a pretty good number for goalie,” Varlamov said of reaching 600 games. “I'm happy to get the numbers but I'm disappointed that we lost today. For me the most important thing was to get the win today.”

Alexander Romanov missed Saturday's game against the Calgary Flames with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day. The 24-year-old defenseman missed his first game of the season as a result. He has 13 points (5G, 8A) this season, along with 109 blocked shots and 79 hits.

Sebastian Aho drew into the lineup, playing for the first time since Jan. 27. Aho skated 18:45 on a pairing with Noah Dobson.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders host the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night at UBS Arena. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.