Islanders blow three-goal lead, lose to Hurricanes in overtime

Lane Lambert isn’t ready to declare his Islanders’ disturbing penchant for blowing leads and allowing way too many shots a full-blown trend.

Suffice to say, the Islanders need to reverse the not-yet-a-trend, and darn quickly, after the Hurricanes rallied from a three-goal deficit for a 4-3 overtime win on Saturday at UBS Arena on Hockey Fights Cancer Night.

“We’re certainly hoping it’s not a trend,” Lambert said. “As of right now, we have given away a couple of multi-goal leads. Certainly not a recipe for success. Is it a trend? No, it’s too early. But certainly something that we need to make sure doesn’t become a trend.”

The Islanders (5-2-3) were outshot 19-5 in the third period — the Hurricanes scored twice — and were at a 101-38 disadvantage in shot attempts, including blocks and missed attempts. That number was 83-43 in Thursday night’s 3-0 win in Washington. And they could not hold a two-goal lead in Monday night’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Red Wings.

They also have blown multi-goal leads in home losses to the Sabres and Senators.

“Very frustrated,” said goalie Ilya Sorokin, who also started against the Red Wings. “It’s the second game in a row for me when they won in the third period.”

“We didn’t get our end clean enough in the third,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “They had a push and we have to do a better job of matching it. We needed to get on the forecheck and play in their end. Instead we were stuck in our end. It makes it tough when they’re coming at you wave after wave.”

It was the teams’ first meeting since their six-game first-round playoff series ended at UBS Arena on April 28 with the Islanders heading into the offseason after a 2-1 overtime loss.

The Islanders did run their point streak to five games (3-0-2) as they played their first match without top-pair defenseman Adam Pelech, who suffered a lower-body injury in the first period against the Capitals.

Lambert essentially went with five defensemen in the third period against the Hurricanes as rookie Samuel Bolduc logged just one shift.

“There’s no question that [Pelech] is a big piece of our puzzle,” Lambert said. “He would have played a lot of minutes in that third period and he wasn’t available for us. Eventually, it gets a little bit wearing on you. At the same time, we have to find our way through that.”

Sebastian Aho ripped the winner past Sorokin at 1:14 of overtime after Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s power-play goal tied the score at 3-3 at 15:27 of the third period with defenseman Scott Mayfield off for hooking Jesper Fast.

Defenseman Dmitry Orlov’s shot from the high slot changed directions on Sorokin (43 saves) to bring the Hurricanes within 3-2 at 12:19 of the third period.

The Hurricanes (7-5-0) cut their deficit to 3-1 at 8:18 of the second period as defenseman Jalen Chatfield connected from the right point through heavy traffic.

“They pressured,” Sorokin said. “It’s two goals that I didn’t see. I don’t know what happened on the second goal. The third goal was a good shot.”

Dobson lifted a backhander for a 1-0 lead at 17:40 of the first period. Simon Holmstrom made it 2-0 at 4:11 of the second period with a shorthanded goal — the Islanders’ second of the season —on the Islanders’ first shot of the period.

They made it 3-0 with their second shot as Bo Horvat, off the left wall, fed Mathew Barzal in the middle at 4:46.

“It could have been a good night,” said Barzal, who scored his second goal. “It’s unfortunate not to get two points.”

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.