Islanders end road trip on down note with loss to Vegas
Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev, left, celebrates after centerz Eichel scored against the Islanders during the first period of an NHL game Saturday in Las Vegas. Credit: AP/John Locher
LAS VEGAS — This certainly was not the way the Islanders wanted to end their four-game road trip, which now must be graded as a disappointing one.
Lax defense during a critical 90-second sequence in the second period led to a 5-2 loss to Vegas on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, with Jack Eichel and Nicolas Roy each scoring twice.
“A couple of mistakes and it turned fast,” coach Lane Lambert said. “But for about two and a half, three minutes, I thought it was maybe our most solid game of the trip.”
The Islanders (18-11-10), who got 24 saves from Ilya Sorokin, went 1-2-1 on the trip. Logan Thompson stopped 28 shots for the reigning Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights (23-12-5), who had been in a 1-6-0 slide and had managed a total of only one goal in losing their previous two games.
“The result is disappointing, but I think we played a pretty good game,” said Matt Martin, who cut the deficit to 4-2 at 2:42 of the third period. “They got two quick ones late in the second and we challenged one thinking it was goaltender interference. The coaches were pretty upset that it counted. And then they score one on that ensuing power play as well to make it a 4-1 game and we’re really chasing it from there.
“The difference in the game is they buried their opportunities and we didn’t when it was a 1-1 game.”
Chandler Stephenson set up a wide-open Pavel Dorofeyev for an easy backdoor tap-in to put Vegas ahead 2-1 at 17:11 of the second period. Roy then ripped a shot past a screened Sorokin from the left circle to push the lead to 3-1 at 18:41.
Lambert unsuccessfully challenged that Keegan Kolesar, who had his back against Sorokin as he established position at the crease unhindered, had interfered with the goalie. That led to Eichel’s second goal, a rising power-play shot from the right circle that made it 4-1 just 31 seconds into the third.
“We saw his foot in the blue paint,” Lambert said. “We saw Ilya’s mask up against his body. It was the right call for us to challenge that.”
Mathew Barzal tied it at 1-1 at 11:13 of the first period as he lifted a backhander from a sharp angle on the right and celebrated. However, no signal was made and play continued for more than a minute before play was whistled dead and a review ensued that confirmed the goal.
“I was fairly certain it went in,” Barzal said. “I was waiting for the buzzer to go off and it didn’t go off.”
The Islanders couldn’t capitalize on two Grade-A chances in the second period before Vegas took the lead. Thompson stopped Kyle Palmieri’s breakaway at 7:59 and Anders Lee, on a two-on-one with Bo Horvat, hit the left post on a wide-open look at 14:03.
The Islanders’ trip opened with a 3-1 loss to the Penguins on New Year’s Eve and continued with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Avalanche on Tuesday as they couldn’t hold 3-1 and 4-3 leads.
They played a complete game in Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Coyotes, setting up the pivotal game against Vegas that would determine the trip’s ultimate tenor.
“It’s a tough road trip,” Barzal said. “We played some good teams. We would have liked to have gotten tonight. I thought Pittsburgh, we probably could have gotten that one.”
The Islanders will return to UBS Arena for two games this week before embarking on another four-game trip. They will play eight of 13 on the road in January before the All-Star break.
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.
