Red Wings fall to Islanders in eighth straight loss

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings lost their eighth straight game in regulation when Jordan Eberle scored his first two goals of the season in the New York Islanders' 4-1 win at Little Caesars Arena on Monday.

Detroit is winless in 10 games (0-8-2) and has been outscored 28-5 in the past six. Jonathan Bernier made 21 saves.
"It's another game where we generate offense and generate offense and then they go down and score a goal," Red Wings center Dylan Larkin said. "We need to find a way to score more than we seem capable of right now. That's something the forwards have to fix."
WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Red Wings highlights]
Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves for New York (18-5-2), which has won two in a row and 17 of 21 after a 1-3-0 start. Anders Lee had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Pulock and Josh Bailey each had two assists.
"Varlamov has been really strong for us and that was especially true tonight," Lee said. "When you have [Varlamov] and [Thomas Greiss] playing behind you, it gives you a lot of confidence. If you make a mistake, you know they are back there."
Lee gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 8:46 of the first period off a pass from Mathew Barzal. It was Lee's second goal in as many games after going 11 straight without one.
Anthony Beauvillier made it 2-0 at 13:17 when he left the penalty box, took Bailey's pass and beat Bernier on a breakaway.

Larkin scored for the first time in 10 games to pull Detroit within 2-1 at 10:36 of the second period. The goal came 10 seconds into the Red Wings' fifth power play of the game.
Detroit finished 1-for-6 with the man-advantage.
New York responded with a power-play goal after Barzal drew two interference penalties in 32 seconds. The first penalty had just expired when Eberle scored his first of the season on a rebound at 16:34 to make it 3-1.
"If you stay 5-on-5 and play the way we're capable of, I felt very comfortable," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "But we took too many penalties and the dam finally broke. Our penalty killers did a really good job, but they make it 2-1 and finally we were able to get something at the end of the first 5-on-3."
Eberle had three points, all assists, in the first five games of the season, then missed 10 with a lower-body injury. He had two assists in nine games entering Monday.
"I felt like I've had a ton of chances since I came back from the injury, but nothing has gone in," he said. "You get frustrated and you start gripping the stick too tight, but you just have to keep working. It's a funny game; you go that long without scoring and then you get two."

Eberle scored his second of the game at 13:24 of the third period for the 4-1 final.
"We are all really happy for him," Lee said. "He's been gripping the stick a little lately, but he's stayed positive and he's worked his butt off. He deserved a game like this where he gets a couple bounces and a couple goals."
New York was 1-for-5 on the power play; two of its chances came in the final four minutes while protecting the three-goal lead.
"There have been some points in this season where I haven't liked our penalty kill, but I like our penalty kill right now," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I haven't liked the power play much, but tonight it actually showed some signs of life."

They said it

"We had to be careful, because that team has a lot of speed and skill. When they get into the zone, they can create a lot of chances. We did a good job of keeping them to the outside and limiting those chances. We played smart and we played our game." -- Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock
"We played really, really well, to be honest with you. We will talk about this game and have a ton of really good clips to show them. It's hard when you lose to keep calm and keep clear eyes where you see things as they are. We've played well in the last number of games, other than a terrible game against Toronto (6-0 loss on Nov. 27), but we've got nothing to show for it." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

Need to know

The Islanders' 18 wins in the first 25 games matches a team record set in 1978-79. They are 14-0-1 in their past 15 against Eastern Conference opponents. … Varlamov has allowed one goal on 61 shots during the past two games. … It's the Red Wings' longest drought without a win since a 10-game streak from Feb. 28-March 18, 2018.

What's next

Islanders: At the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-D, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)