Islanders give up four power-play goals in overtime loss to Devils

Ilya Sorokin stopped all 28 shots he faced in five-on-five play, including three highlight reel robberies.

Yet the Devils, going 4-for-5 on the power play, still beat the Islanders, 5-4, in overtime on Friday night at UBS Arena.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” coach Lane Lambert said after the Islanders managed to tie the game three times after falling behind by one goal. “Give our guys full marks for continuing to come back and show resilience. Certainly, it was a huge point for us at the end. They hit us with a couple of plays on the power play. We had a couple of missed assignments. And that’s all it takes, that one split second.”

Bo Horvat tied the game at 4-4 with 1:11 left in regulation and Sorokin (34 saves) off for an extra skater. But Jack Hughes, with his second goal, ripped a shot from the slot at 2:19 of the three-on-three overtime period.

Horvat and Brock Nelson both scored twice for the Islanders (2-0-1), who concluded their season-opening homestand and face the Sabres in Buffalo on Saturday night.

“I wouldn’t say we were at the level we would like five-on-five,” Nelson said. “I think we did some good things. The penalty kill, I think everyone has the confidence and the trust that those guys are going to go out there, work extremely hard and get the job done most nights. Some nights, it may not go your way. Tonight was one.”

“There’s things we can clean up from tonight and some things we can build on and another chance tomorrow night to get a win,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “I just think we made a couple of mistakes, which are going to happen. They ended up scoring on them.”

Akira Schmid made 28 saves for the Devils (2-1-1).

Hughes’ power-play backdoor tap-in at the post of Ondrej Palat’s feed from the right gave the Devils a 4-3 lead at 4:30 of the third period after Pierre Engvall hooked defenseman John Marino.

The Devils scored two power-play goals within 1 minute, 21 seconds when Tyler Toffoli beat Sorokin with a rising wrist shot from the right circle just 21 seconds into the second period to take a 2-1 lead. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton’s power-play one-timer had tied the game at 1-1 at 19:00 of the first period.

“Against teams like that, we’ve definitely got to do a better job of staying out of the box,” Matt Martin said.

Nelson, getting wide open in the slot off Kyle Palmieri’s feed, beat Schmid through his pads at 1:37 to tie the game at 2-2. Nelson opened the scoring at 12:35 of the first period with a wrist shot from the left circle to finish a rush started by Palmieri.

But the Islanders — 0-for-3 on the power play — just couldn’t stay out of the penalty box. Defenseman Adam Pelech was whistled for his second infraction — matching Casey Cizikas’ two minors — when he was called for delay of game at 1:51 of the second period.

That allowed defenseman Luke Hughes to rip a shot through traffic to regain a 3-2 lead for the Devils at 2:36. Horvat tied the game at 3-3 at 6:10 to continue the frenetic second period after Martin retrieved the puck along the left wall and got it to defenseman Noah Dobson in the high slot. Dobson faked a shot and found Horvat on a sharp angle on the right for a one-timer that deflected in off the back of Schmid’s left pad.

Sorokin robbed Jack Hughes at 15:29 of the first period as Hughes’ stickhandling got him free to the net. Hughes stopped, deked, drew the puck to his backhand and tried to lift a shot. But Sorokin, sprawled belly-down with his pads splayed, reached up to make a miraculous glove save, leaving Hughes to pound the glass in frustration.

“I remember just Hughes’ huge goal in overtime,” Sorokin said.

Sorokin also stoned Jesper Bratt, in the low slot, with his pad prior to Hamilton’s first-period power-play goal.

In the second period, Sorokin went into a split to deny Nathan Bastian’s rebound attempt with his left pad at 17:03. Sorokin said he never saw the shot.

“A little higher, it’s in the net.”

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.