CALGARY, Alberta — Go figure: after squeezing out a win in which they were badly outchanced in Edmonton, the Islanders went to Calgary, won the advanced stats competition and lost the game.
It might be overstating it, though, and more than a little, to say they were hard done by with a 4-2 loss to the Flames. The Islanders were loose with the puck, got more sloppy as the game went on and far worse in their own zone than two days prior.
Despite the fact that they created chances, it told you something as well that by the end of the second period, Roy was experimenting with his top six, seemingly looking for some kind of spark.
By that point, the Islanders already trailed 4-1, having allowed a trio of goals in the second for the Flames to break the game open.
Adam Klapka boxed out Cal Ritchie at the net front to tip in Kevin Bahl’s shot 3:04 into the second, prompting Roy to start getting cautious with Ritchie’s minutes.
Justin Kirkland and Yan Kuznetsov then struck just 1:59 apart at 9:50 and 11:49 of the period, respectively. Kirkland’s goal followed a two-on-one rush off Mat Barzal’s turnover where the Islanders were uniformly late getting back; Kuznetsov was the trailer of the rush, scoring from the point with traffic in front.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau got one back for the Islanders quickly after Kuznetsov made it 4-0, but the visitors’ best chance to get two points from this one had already come and gone in the first period, when the Islanders failed to capitalize with the ice tilting their way throughout.
Yegor Sharangovich’s first-period opener came against that tide, and after what might have been the only time in the first 20 minutes that the Islanders struggled to break the puck out. Calgary duly took advantage with Andersson feeding Sharangovich for a one-timer in the slot.
There wasn’t much of a push to speak of in the third period. Roy was reduced to emptying his net with eight minutes left in regulation, which resulted in a too-little, too-late goal from Anders Lee, who broke a nine-game scoring drought to score his 300th career goal.
The Islanders got a power play after that, perhaps raising the blood pressure on Calgary’s bench, but could do nothing with it.
Roy was unsure going into Saturday whether to keep his top six from the Edmonton game intact, ultimately deciding in favor.
That didn’t last long, and though Ritchie is still showing timely flashes of skill — his assist on the game-winner in Edmonton for example — the young center is starting to show signs of hitting the rookie wall.
No one would blame Ritchie for this one, but the Czech didn’t do much in his first start in three games, stopping just six of the first 10 shots he saw as the game grew out of hand.
The standings ramifications of losing a winnable game will be hard to swallow. With the Hurricanes set to play later on Saturday, the Islanders were in danger of falling seven points behind Carolina for first in the Metropolitan Division with a win.
They can see the light at the end of the tunnel of this trip now, with last-place Vancouver and Seattle the last two stops before a merciful flight home. To get back to Long Island — where the hope is that a healthy Bo Horvat will be waiting — better than .500 on the trip, they’ll have to win both.
