Pat Pickens
The New York Islanders were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention with a 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday at UBS Arena.
Casey Cizikas scored the Islanders’ lone goal, but they could not overcome three Montreal goals goals in a span of 55 seconds in the second period. Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves in defeat.
The Isles will close their season Tuesday at home against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Islanders Were Eliminated from Playoff Contention
Seven games ago, the Islanders were in second place in the Metropolitan Division. Now they’re going to play a meaningless season finale at home Tuesday.
“We lost some late. We shot ourselves in the foot in some,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “We just kinda faltered toward the end here and you need a few more points.”
The Isles went 1-6 in that seven-game span, while their goaltending failed and GM Mathieu Darche flailed by replacing Patrick Roy with Pete DeBoer. The Isles won their opener 5-3 under DeBoer against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday but were outscored 7-1 in two home games this weekend.
“We put ourselves in that spot all year,” Islanders forward Bo Horvat said. “When it mattered most and we really needed to get the wins, we didn’t get the job done.”
DeBoer, despite not being on Long Island long, was frustrated for his players.
“I’m disappointed,” DeBoer said. “I know they were in a good spot a month ago, … [but] these guys have had a lot of stuff thrown at them.”
The Canadiens Scored Three Goals in 55 Seconds
The Islanders came out flying in the first half of the first period. They posted six of the first seven shots in the game and outshot Montreal — one of the best teams in the East — 8-6 at five on five.
But Montreal goalie Jacob Fowler kept the Isles off the board. The Habs found their game and held the Islanders to just six second-period shots.
Sorokin kept New York even, making his best stop on Alexandre Texier. But Nick Suzuki broke the ice, by re-directing Juraj Slafkovsky’s pass into the vacant net, with 4:04 left in the second period.
Then the dam broke. Matthew Schaefer took a high-sticking penalty on Cole Caufield, and Ivan Demidov tipped Suzuki’s pass into a wide-open net, which made it 2-0.
Alex Newhook capped the flurry when he took a pass from Zachary Bolduc and led a two-on-one break and beat Sorokin clean between the arm and his body.
“That was the game, right?” DeBoer said. “Some self-inflicted things: the power-play goal, we gave up a two-on-one, then got on the wrong side of a little man-on-man in the D-zone. That’s what a good team does, they expose you.”
The Islanders Pushed in the Third Period but Couldn’t Beat Jacob Fowler
To their credit, the Islanders pushed in the third period with their season on the line.
Still, they didn’t even find that second goal, even despite posting 3.66 Expected goals — 2.09 of which were in the third period.
“It’s hard to win in this league with one goal,” DeBoer said. “We gotta find a way to convert some of these opportunities we’re getting here into goals.”
The Islanders outshot the Canadiens 17-3 and had more high-danger scoring chances in the third by an 8-2 margin. Yet, Fowler was awesome over the final 20 minutes, making 16 third-period saves and 30 in the game.
Isles players put the onus on themselves to score more and lamented the fact they didn’t. The third period Sunday was a microcosm of their final seven games.
“At the end of the day, we need to put the puck in the net, including myself, in order to win hockey games,” Horvat said. “We just didn’t do it down the stretch here.”
