Islanders' loss to Ducks a blow to their long-shot playoff chances

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A defenseman was pressed into service as a center and goalie Marcus Hogberg, activated off injured reserve earlier in the day, made his first start in six weeks.

But that’s not why the Islanders lost to the Ducks, 4-1, on Sunday night at Honda Center. Simply put, they looked tired and flat-footed on the second night of a back-to-back.

“We had a bad start, not a great middle,” Kyle Palmieri said. “Our push came in the third. It was too little too late.”

It was a damaging defeat for their long-shot playoff hopes in the middle match of their three-game California swing and their second game after trading away Brock Nelson.

The loss left the Islanders (29-27-7), who had a two-game winning streak snapped, four points behind the Senators for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. The trip ends Tuesday night against the Kings, who are 20-3-4 at home.

“I was pretty impressed with the skills [the Ducks] have, but at the same time, we have to play better than what we did today,” coach Patrick Roy said. “We gave them too many chances. We could have had a better effort than that.”

Lukas Dostal made 31 saves for the Ducks (28-28-7). His shutout bid was spoiled by defenseman Tony DeAngelo at 15:10 of the third period.

Hogberg (24 saves) made his first start since exiting a 3-2 overtime win over the visiting Hurricanes on Jan. 25 with a hand injury.

Ilya Sorokin, who made 38 saves in Saturday night’s 4-2 win over the NHL-worst Sharks, had started 32 of the previous 38 games.

“[Hogberg] is the reason why we had a chance to be in that game just in the first period,” Roy said. “I think they had eight pretty good chances. Half of them were created by us. We need to manage the puck a lot better than we did today.

“A little surprising. But in this league, you’ve got to play well every night if you want to win.”

With Kyle MacLean unavailable because of illness, Roy used defenseman Adam Boqvist to center a makeshift fourth line. Roy said it was the first time Boqvist had been used as a center in the NHL. He logged 10:30 across 14 shifts.

“I appreciate what he did and I thought he had a good game,” Roy said.

But MacLean’s absence played a role in the Ducks’ second goal. Roy had Pierre Engvall taking the faceoffs for Boqvist — Engvall went 0-for-5 — and Leo Carlsson beat him on a defensive-zone draw after the Islanders iced the puck, leading to defenseman Drew Helleson beating Hogberg to the short side from the right point at 14:56 of the second period. It was a goal Hogberg might like back.

The same perhaps was true on Mason McTavish’s power-play goal 43 seconds into the third period to make it 3-0, which beat Hogberg over his blocker.

“It’s a disappointing loss,” said Hogberg, who then stopped Jansen Harkins’ penalty shot attempt at 3:17 of the third period. “For myself, a bit rusty, but the longer the game went, the more comfortable I was out there. I just wanted to save the puck in the third period so we can have a chance so instead of it being 3-0, it would be 2-0.”

Hogberg did stop Trevor Zegras’ “Michigan” attempt as part of his eight first-period saves. But Sam Colangelo opened the scoring at 17:52 of the first period, getting free to the crease to beat a sprawled Hogberg. Colangelo added an empty-netter after Roy pulled his goalie with more than 12 minutes left in regulation.

“They had a lot of pressure on us in the defensive zone,” defenseman Scott Mayfield said. “We had a couple of shifts where we had some looks, but we just couldn’t find the net.”

Notes & quotes: Palmieri was unable to play the final 7:38 of the second period but returned in the third period . . . Goalie Jakub Skarek was reassigned to the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport after appearing in two games, including his first NHL start . . . Mayfield, who was a healthy scratch Saturday for the fourth time in six games, logged 13:56.

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.