Takeaways: Islanders Shut Out By Hurricanes 4-0

There was no rally in Raleigh on Tuesday night, as the New York Islanders were shut out 4-0 by Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center.

Andrei Svechnikov (PPG), Jordan Martinook, Tyson Jost and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes, as the Isles were blanked for a fifth time this season.

Ilya Sorokin started the game and stopped 19 of 23 through two periods, with Marcus Hogberg stopping all six shots he saw in a third period relief appearance.

Pyotr Kochetkov stopped all 32 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season.

With the loss, the Islanders have lost two straight, missing a chance to move from seventh to sixth in the Metropolitan Division standings.

“It's obviously frustrating because we need to start clawing ourselves back into this,” Ryan Pulock said. “We need to be urgent here to collect points and get some wins. Obviously if you're not going to do that, you're going to fall behind.”

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Islanders had some jump out of the gate, but couldn’t convert on a pair of grade-A looks for Max Tsyplakov and Hudson Fasching in the opening three minutes. That proved costly, as Carolina opened the scoring on Svechnikov’s power-play goal at 5:47, while Martinook beat Noah Dobson to an Ilya Sorokin rebound to make it 2-0 at the 8:21 mark.

That put the Islanders in chase mode, though they continued to press, at one point recording 12 straight shots, spanning the end of the first period and start of the second, but could not solve Kochetkov.

That again proved costly, as the opportunistic Canes struck again, as Jost knocked a Shayne Gostisbehere rebound out of the air and past Sorokin at 11:13. Dennis Cholowski had the Islanders’ best chance of the period, but his backdoor feed was denied by Kochetkov, who was sharp from start to finish. Cholowski’s try was the Isles last shot of the second period and it was all Canes in the final three-and-a-half minutes, culminating with Aho scoring on a two-on-one rush with 15 seconds to play in the middle frame.

The Islanders could not muster a comeback in the third period, with Kochetkov holding strong. Brock Nelson’s breakaway was about as close as they came to breaking the shutout on a partial breakaway, but his shot grazed Kochetkov before going over the net. In the end, it left the Isles empty-handed in their first game back to North Carolina since last year’s playoff defeat.

“It's frustrating,” Bo Horvat said. “We just gave him too many odd man rushes, too many opportunities to capitalize. I didn't think our game was terrible. We had our looks, definitely their goalie played well, but at the end of the day, we just didn't get it done.”

HORVAT SHARP IN RETURN:

Horvat looked sharp in his return from a one-game absence, playing with noticeable pep from the opening puck drop and finishing the game with four shots on goal, 10 total attempts, three hits, two giveaways while winning 12-of-18 face-offs in 16:40. Horvat also had a pair of chances on the Islanders’ two penalty kills on a night where he was one of the best Islanders.

“I felt pretty good,” Horvat said. “It's always tough being out and missing a game and getting right back into it, especially against a team like that, but overall, felt pretty good. I thought my line had some chances, just again, we didn't get it done.”

Horvat centered a new-look line with Max Tsyplakov and Simon Holmstrom, creating a chance from the slot in the opening minute that Tsyplakov just shot high. That line had the most sustained offensive pressure for the Isles in the first period, including a look for Horvat alone in front of the net that was denied by Kochetkov.

“I thought we played well, but at the end of the day, we have to find the back of the net in situations like that,” Horvat said. “We had our chances. We created a lot tonight, and there are two skilled guys that that can make plays.”

In total, the line had four shots on goal and eight attempts in the period – finishing the game with 14 total shot attempts and earned a positive review from Roy on a negative night.

ODDS AND ENDS:

• The Islanders allowed the opening goal for an eighth-straight game.
• Brock Nelson played in his 873^rd game, passing Clark Gillies for sole possession of fifth place on the Islanders all-time games played list.
• Anders Lee had a team-high six shots on goal.
• The Islanders outshot the Hurricanes 32-29
• The Isles went 0-for-1 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.

LINEUP NOTES:

Horvat returned to the lineup after missing Sunday’s game with a lower body injury, skating on a new-look line with Tsyplakov and Holmstrom. Matt Martin came out of the lineup for just the second time in the past 20 games.

Pierre Engvall played alongside Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri.

Casey Cizikas centered a line with Kyle MacLean and Hudson Fasching.

Mathew Barzal centered a line with Anders Lee and JG Pageau

NOTABLE QUOTE:

Brock Nelson on the Isles urgency going forward:

“We have to be better. We have to win games. We're fortunate to still be in the mix. There's a lot of hockey left. So we all aren't happy with where we're at. We know we can be better, and want to be better. So, a lot of urgency is a big part of it.”

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders wrap up their three-game road trip on Saturday night in Toronto. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.