Islanders struggle to score yet again in loss to Ducks

The frustration was readily apparent in Mathew Barzal’s words and demeanor. And he was the lone Islander to score a goal.

They can continue to outshoot teams all they want, and they now have in all but two games in this young season. But the more important task is finishing and that obviously continues to be a major issue.

The Islanders held a 41-22 edge in shots on goal in Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss to the struggling Ducks at UBS Arena, part of a 91-50 advantage in total attempts.

“It sucks,” said Barzal, who connected on the last of the Islanders’ four power plays but is still looking for his first five-on-five goal this season.

“It sucks as a team. It just hasn’t gone our way. Individually, I know me and Bo [Horvat] put a lot of pressure on ourselves and haven’t found that spark to score a big goal and win a hockey game.”

“He’s going to make his plays,” Horvat said. “I think he just expects a lot out of himself, as does everyone in this room. It’s not that he’s mad at anybody else or frustrated with anybody else. He wants to win. He wants to be a difference maker every single night. He’s trying out there, I’ll give him that.”

The Islanders (3-4-2) were held to one or fewer goals for the fourth time as goalie Lukas Dostal fought through screens and stopped the odd-man chances for the Ducks (4-4-1).

The Ducks, coming off road losses to the Rangers and Devils, were 2-for-26 on the power play entering the match but connected twice in three tries as Ilya Sorokin did not allow a five-on-five goal.

It left the Islanders’ penalty kill a hard-to-fathom 3-for-9 at home.

“It is frustrating because we played a good game and came up short,” coach Patrick Roy said. “When you don’t put pucks in the net, you’ve got to bear down in those situations.”

“Tonight that was the difference so it’s got to be better,” penalty killer Kyle MacLean said. “We’ve had talks and it’s still early. Right now, the results aren’t there. That’s the bottom line. I think we deserved to win that one tonight. In this room, we’re sticking together. The message has been the same that we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

Leo Carlsson tipped Frank Vatrano’s shot from the right circle past Sorokin for a power-play goal at 14:05 of the first period. At 14:07 of the second period, Troy Terry, extending his point streak to eight games, got to the crease to shovel Mason McTavish’s feed in for another man-advantage tally.

Pierre Engvall, playing his second game since being recalled from AHL Bridgeport, was in the penalty box both times.

The Islanders could not convert on a third-period five-on-three opportunity despite four shots in 1:21 but still cut their deficit to one goal shortly after Vatrano exited the penalty box on Barzal’s power-play one-timer from the left circle off Horvat’s feed at 5:31.

But Vatrano clinched it with an empty-net goal with 59.7 seconds left.

Roy started tinkering with his lines and power-play combinations in the second period, breaking up Horvat and Barzal’s line. He placed Horvat with Simon Holmstrom and Casey Cizikas while Barzal skated with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee.

Roy said eventually snapping out of the scoring doldrums will come down to confidence.

“We wish we could just go to Walmart and buy some,” Roy said.

The Islanders held a 13-5 advantage in high-danger chances at five-on-five per NaturalStatTrick.com and 16-7 in all situations.

Notes & quotes: Anders Lee took a game-high six shots and Barzal, Brock Nelson and defenseman Adam Pelech all had five . . . Hudson Fasching made his season’s debut skating on the fourth line after being recalled from Bridgeport on Saturday. He logged 7:56 but Roy said he played well. Engvall, also skating on the fourth line in his second game since being recalled from Bridgeport, logged 9:16 but Roy said he did not play enough minutes to assess his game . . . Top-pair defenseman Alexander Romanov (upper body) missed his second game when he was expected to miss just one but Roy said he remains day to day and has not suffered a setback . . . Goalie Semyon Varlamov is expected to start on Wednesday night in Columbus to open a two-game road trip.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.