Islanders fail to gain ground in playoff chase, lose to Canucks
Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin looks on after Vancouver Canucks left wing Kiefer Sherwood scored in the second period of an NHL game at UBS Arena on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The frustration was directed inward this time. That the Islanders could not leapfrog into a playoff position was of their own doing, not, in part, because of any last-second calls that didn’t go their way.
“It just wasn’t good enough tonight in kind of a must-win game,” defenseman Adam Pelech said. “I guess we’re just disappointed with our performance.”
The Islanders missed their opportunity because they missed their five-on-five opportunities and because goalie Ilya Sorokin had a rare off-night. So a 5-2 loss to the Canucks on Wednesday night at UBS Arena to conclude a four-game homestand meant they could not overtake the Canadiens for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. They still have not been in a playoff position since Nov. 19.
“We had a chance,” said Sorokin, pulled at 1:05 of the third period after allowing four goals on 19 shots with the last two being ones he probably should have stopped. “It’s disappointing.”
The Islanders (32-29-10) are now in a 0-1-2 slide in which they’ve led in all three games. That includes Monday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets after Kyle Palmieri’s apparent winner was waved off with nine seconds left.
They scored shorthanded and skating four-on-four against the Canucks but could not convert numerous five-on-five chances, particularly in the first period, and were 0-for-2 with just one shot on the power play. Thatcher Demko stopped 26 shots for the Canucks (34-26-12).
The Islanders remain one point back of the final playoff position after seeing the Canadiens, Rangers and Red Wings all lose on Tuesday night.
“I cannot say we had a bad period,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Yeah, there were some details that were not good. But we gave them five chances, they scored three goals. Give them credit for it. Maybe there’s a time of the year where you want to be perfect. But I don’t think such a thing exists. We had our chances and we didn’t bear down and they did.”
NaturalStatTrick.com listed the Canucks as having a 13-11 edge in high-danger chances skating five-on-five.
“We have a lot of chances for scoring,” Maxim Tsyplakov said. “But the goalie made good saves. On five-on-five, a couple of mistakes. We can play better. Today was not our day.”
Teddy Blueger beat Sorokin on an unscreened shot to give the Canucks a 4-2 lead at 1:05 of the third period, their third straight goal and the second straight questionable one Sorokin allowed.
That seemed to deflate the Islanders just enough the rest of the way.
“I would have loved to see us have a bit of a push and we never had that push,” Roy said. “We had some of our guys that didn’t play their best game.”
The Canucks ended a see-saw second period with a 3-2 lead as defenseman Derek Forbort snuck one under Sorokin’s left arm — a savable shot — with 22.9 seconds remaining.
“I didn’t change him because he had a bad game,” Roy said. “Sometimes it’s just to change the momentum of the game. I was hoping that would create a spark. Ilya has been so good for us. Sometimes you want the guys saying, ‘OK, let’s win this one for him.’ He has nothing to be blamed for this game.”
Former Islander Aatu Raty, playing his first game at UBS Arena since being traded to the Canucks as part of the deal for Bo Horvat on Jan. 30, 2023, got to the crease to tip defenseman Marcus Pettersson’s shot at 13:59 to tie it at 2-2 of the second period.
Casey Cizikas lifted a shot off a shorthanded rush with Jean-Gabriel Pageau to tie it at 1-1 at 5:35 and Tony DeAngelo, with the teams skating four-on-four, swooped in to lift the rebound of Pierre Engvall’s shot from the slot for a 2-1 lead at 9:00. Cizikas’ third line with Engvall and Hudson Fasching, returning after a one-game absence because of an illness, was easily the Islanders’ best.
Kiefer Sherwood’s tip of Quinn Hughes’ blue-line shot opened the scoring at 2:39. Sherwood also clinched it with an empty-netter.
Demko made several Grade-A saves in the first period to keep the match 0-0 through 20 minutes, including stoning Horvat, the former Canucks captain, twice at the crease.
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.
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