Islanders allow three goals in third period, fall in overtime to Red Wings

The Islanders were headed toward a third straight win and, possibly, a second straight shutout with a two-goal lead early in the third period. But that’s not so easy against the Red Wings, who lead the NHL in goals scored.

“That’s kind of on us,” Bo Horvat said. “We kind of let them take it to us in the third, especially after we got that second one. We should have just put our foot on the pedal.”

The Islanders blew a third-period lead for the first time in four chances as the Red Wings earned a 4-3 overtime victory at UBS Arena on Monday night.

Lucas Raymond, open at the left post off a blown defensive assignment, scored the winner at 1:25 of the extra period after Horvat’s power-play goal at 15:49 of the third period forced overtime.

It spoiled another strong performance by Ilya Sorokin, who had 32 saves.

“That last one is on me,” Horvat said. “It blew up on me, couldn’t get a hold of it and it’s too bad that Ilya has no chance on pretty much all those goals. He’s been unbelievable for us all year and we’ve got to be better in front of him.”

“That’s who I feel the worst for,” said Casey Cizikas, whose shorthanded goal off the rush at 18:39 of the second period opened the scoring. “He stands on his head every single night. He gives us a chance to win every single night and we let him down in the third period.”

Defenseman Noah Dobson’s shot from the right point was tipped in by Brock Nelson to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead at 1:05 of the third period.

“I don’t think it’s acceptable, especially at home, to give up three unanswered in the third,” Dobson said. “Yeah, we’ll take the positive of getting a point. But we’ve got to do a better job of getting the two points every time, especially at home and in the third.”

It was a disappointing end to the first month of the season for the Islanders (4-2-2), who played six of their eight games at home. They will play nine of 14 on the road in November.

The Red Wings’ comeback started as Daniel Sprong halved the deficit by beating Sorokin over his glove from the low slot at 7:55 of the third period.

Defenseman Jake Walman’s slap shot from above the left circle tied it at 2 at 9:35, after which Islanders coach Lane Lambert called his timeout.

Yet J.T. Compher, getting open off the left post for a feed from defenseman Moritz Seider, put the Red Wings (6-3-1) ahead at 11:43.

“When you have a 2-0 lead, there’s a certain way our team has to play in order to have success,” Lambert said. “We have to keep pushing the puck north, and when we get away from that and deviate from that, it’s not a recipe for success for us, and that’s what happened.

“The structure was good. Eliminating and closing a little quicker will help us. We had a couple of mistakes in the third period in the defensive zone and they capitalized on them. It’s back to the drawing board.”

The Islanders won the special teams battle, killing off both Red Wings power plays and gaining the lead as Cizikas beat Ville Husso (36 saves) through the pads for their first shorthanded goal of the season. The Islanders went 1-for-2 on the power play.

It still added up to one point instead of the desired two.

“Stuff happens,” Kyle Palmieri said. “We kind of stopped working a little bit and the execution wasn’t there and we got away from our game.”

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.