Islanders Lose 5th In A Row With Playoffs In Jeopardy

In a game they absolutely had to have, the New York Islanders lost 4-3 to the Ottawa Senators for their fifth loss in a row.

They did it again. In a game the New York Islanders absolutely needed to have they laid an absolute dud on the road against one of the worst teams in the league. Ironically, it was a pretty good start for the Isles.

They got an early power play and the league’s 23rd ranked power play was able to score. Anders Lee was able to roof one courtesy of Mathew Barzal giving the Isles an early 1-0 lead with his 20th goal of the season.

Then things got rather sloppy. The Isles took back to back tripping calls giving the Senators nearly four straight minutes of the man advantage. It was Connor Brown who scored when things went back to five on five to tie up the game at one.

This one essentially went off of Scott Mayfield and trickled into the net, along with the Islanders defenseman. The Islanders finished the period with just a 37.93 Corsi For percentage as the Senators were much better in the final 15 minutes of the period.

The second period again started strong from the Islanders. Mathew Barzal scored his first goal in 15 games (yes, you read the right) giving the Islanders a 2-1 lead.

It was a pretty shot by Mat Barzal who netted his 19th of the year. It was not only a big goal for him but the team as well. Later in the period, the Isles were sent to the power play. Only this time it wasn’t them who got the best look, it was the Senators.

Some poor passing turned into a Chris Tierney and Mikkel Boedker two on one and they made no mistake about it tying this game up at two. Four minutes later, Anthony Duclair gave the Senators their first lead of the game on a charmin soft goal.

Somehow Semyon Varlamov wasn’t posted up and it snuck through to give Duclair his 23rd of the season. Despite six high danger chances to the Sens one, the Islanders left the period trailing 3-2.

The third period stunk. The Islanders weren’t getting anything going and late in the period another brutal pass from Devon Toews turned into a break for Brady Tkachuk who netted his 20th of the season to make it a two goal game.

Barry Trotz decided to pull Varlamov for the extra skater which lead to a Ryan Pulock goal. It was too little too late as the Isles would fall 4-3 dropping their fifth in a row.

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Winners: Craig Anderson, Mat Barzal, Anthony Duclair

Losers: Semyon Varlamov, Devon Toews, Josh Bailey