3 Takeaways: Islanders Show Resolve in 4-3 Shootout Loss

The New York Islanders earned a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the red-hot Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday afternoon at UBS Arena.
For the Islanders, Brock Nelson scored a first-period strike on the power play, while Kieffer Bellows and Jean-Gabriel Pageau provided late third-period goals. Ilya Sorokin made 31 saves on 34 shots.

Shea Theodore secured what became the fifth-straight win for the Golden Knights with his shootout winner, while Nicolas Roy also scored in the bonus round. Vegas' offense also benefited from a two-goal effort by Theodore, including his game-tying goal with 48 seconds left in regulation and a tally from Jonathan Marchessault.
Former Islanders' netminder Robin Lehner, who played with the team during the 2018-19 season, played in his first game back on Long Island and made 29 saves on 32 shots in the victory and as he received a warm welcome back from the Islanders' loyal fanbase.
"It was a good hockey game against a good team," Nelson said. "We got ourselves back, got the lead. Any time you're up one [goal] late [in the game], you want to hang on to that and get the two points. It's a positive that [we] got one, but you're disappointed in the last minute for sure, but that was a good game."

ISLANDERS SHOW RESOLVE, BUT FALL SHORT

While the Islanders didn't manage the extra point in the shootout, it was certainly an effort for the group to build off. Heading into the third period, the Islanders were tied 1-1 with Vegas, courtesy of a Nelson one-timer from the right circle on the power play in the first period and Marchessault's first period goal. That changed when the Golden Knights capitalized on their first ,and only, power play of the period as Theodore wired a blistering one-timer through traffic from the blueline at 5:46 into the frame.
Down by a score of 2-1, the Islanders didn't quit. Instead, they mounted a comeback effort as the regulation clock wound down, and they even stuck with it after having a go-goal disallowed for offside.
Their tenacity broke through as Pageau netted the Islanders' first lead of the game at 17:40. The Islanders did what they do best when their offense was clicking and hemmed Vegas in its own end, forechecked hard to produce a turnover, and got to the net. After grabbing a loose puck that Anders Lee dutifully dug out and from behind the goal line, Oliver Wahlstrom played Pageau in the low slot for the easy tap-in goal.

"We played with some urgency when we were down a goal to come back like this against a team like Vegas that keeps pressing," Pageau said. "I thought we did a really good job tonight to come back and to get the lead. It's unfortunate to give up a goal at the end like this and lose that point, but overall we grabbed a big point today."
The momentous goal came just under a minute after Cal Clutterbuck's initial go-head goal was overturned by a Vegas challenge for offside and further confirmed on the play. Upon entering the Golden Knights zone and collecting a pass from Islanders' defenseman Noah Dobson, Clutterbuck was offside before beating Lehner with a low wrist shot.
Unfortunately, the Islanders' attempted regulation victory was robbed as Vegas sent the game into overtime with 48 seconds on the clock. Theodore scored his second of the game with an almost exact effort as his first goal. The blueliner sent a shot from the blueline through a sea of bodies to beat Sorokin for the game-tying goal.
In overtime, both teams jockeyed for ice, but neither were able to capitalize. The Islanders generated some promising looks as Lehner had to make some sporadic cat-like saves, but none of those looks were able to beat the Vegas netminder.
In the shootout, Lehner denied attempts from Anthony Beauvillier and Oliver Wahlstrom. Roy beat Sorokin with a snazzy sequence where he faked a shot, halted on his edges and slipped in his shot and Theodore made a forehand-backhand move on Sorokin.

SOROKIN SHINES IN SHOOTOUT LOSS

A theme of this season has been Sorokin's stellar play and Sunday night's performance was no different. The 26-year-old goalie came up with another solid effort for his team that ultimately benefited them in at least obtaining a point. Sorokin's play gave his team a chance to attempt the comeback, especially after a rocky second period.
Golden Knights 4, Islanders 3 SO
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Despite facing a 12-shot workload in the first period - compared to the seven the Islanders put up - Sorokin's biggest saves of the game didn't come until the latter half of the second period where he had to make sequences of stops on dominant shifts from the Golden Knights.
Just under midway in the second period, Sorokin came up with a series of stops as Vegas picked up their intensity. That pressure continued on the period as Sorokin kicked out a backdoor one-timer from Alex Pietrangelo and almost immediately had to slid back into position to turn aside a look in the low slot from Roy.
In the third period, just after Vegas took its 2-1 lead on the power play, the Russian netminder came up with some timely stops to keep the game within reach for his team. Sorokin denied a Pietrangelo shot from distance and subsequently smothered William Karlsson's attempt on the rebound.

In overtime, Vegas didn't muster many threatening chances, but the ones that did head towards the net, Sorokin came up with the necessary stops to help his team reach the shoutout.
In the shootout, Sorokin stopped Vegas' first taker as he confidently gloved Marchessault's attempt.
Marchessault's first-period goal resulted from a quick play up the ice at 6:56. Zach Whitecloud wired a shot from the point, which Sorokin made the initial stop on, but Marchessault came swooping in for the rebound. The Vegas winger squeezed his shot past Sorokin's left elbow to give his team a 1-0 lead.

BELLOWS MAKES IMPACT AS LINEUP UNDERGOES RETOOLING

The Islanders had to make some adjustments to their lineup as Kyle Palmieri, who sustained a lower-body injury on Thursday against Boston and was later confirmed by Trotz post-game as "doubtful" to play against Washington on Thursday, did not play against Vegas. The Islanders were also without Matt Martin and Robin Salo, who were placed in COVID-19 protocol as announced by the team ahead of the game. In their places, wingers Kieffer Bellows and Ross Johnston and defenseman Sebastian Aho all drew in the lineup.
Bellows' impact was evident in his first game back since Dec. 14. The 23-year-old winger is "making a case" for himself per Trotz. In his 7:40 of ice time, Bellows scored a pivotal goal to ignite some fire back in his team in the third period.

He also took exception to a hit Vegas forward Max Paciorietty laid out on Andy Greene, who was honored prior to puck drop for his 1,000-game milestone that he reached on Nov. 15. While Bellows, who weighs 195-pounds, was out of his weight class as he dropped the gloves with 217-pound Pacioretty, it was a fearless and galvanizing play by the winger to bring some emotion into a crucial point in the game.
"I liked his compete," Trotz said. "You could tell his feistiness, he got into a fight with Pacioretty, scored a big goal. His ice time was a little bit limited and that's on me, that's not on Kieffer, he probably is working his way… As a veteran player you probably get a bit more rope than a younger guy and Kieffer is making a case to get a little more rope every time he gets in there. If you look at the minutes, he probably deserved a few more, but that's on me, but he's making a case every time he gets in the lineup."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders were scheduled to close out their back-to-back set against Montreal on Monday night at UBS Arena, but the game was postponed as the NHL and NHLPA postponed cross-border games through Dec. 23.