3 thoughts on the New York Islanders' tough-luck loss to the St. Louis Blues

The New York Islanders dropped a tough-luck game against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night at the Enterprise Center.

The Isles played a good game, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. They controlled the pace throughout large chunks of the game but somehow were unable to convert scoring opportunities into goals.

So, with that in mind, here’s a look at three thoughts from Thursday night’s game New York Islanders game versus the St. Louis Blues.

3 thoughts from the New York Islanders' loss to the St. Louis Blues

The scoring dried up

After popping six goals on the Colorado Avalanche, the Isles were shut out again. Thursday night’s game marks the second time this season the Isles have done goalless. So, that situation raises concerns about the Islanders’ lack of scoring.

Specifically, the issue seems to lie with depth scoring. We know the Isles’ top two lines can score in bunches. But the problem lies when opponents can corral the Isles’ top six. When that occurs, the bottom six needs to step up scoring-wise.

That didn’t happen against the Blues. While the bottom six played a decent game, they couldn’t generate much offensively. Moving forward, the Islanders may need to make changes in the bottom six to inject more speed and skill to hopefully spur offensive production beyond the top guys.

Sorokin was fantastic again

Thursday night marked Ilya Sorokin’s second-straight start. If there had been any doubt regarding his recovery, Sorokin has apparently quelled any lingering concerns.

Sorokin was fantastic against the Blues, providing the top-quality goaltending the New York Islanders need. Sorokin was there throughout the game, bailing out the Isles when needed.

In particular, a second-period turnover that led to a Blues’ chance was denied by Sorokin. He robbed Brayden Schenn on one of the Blues’ best-scoring chances of the night. Sorokin also made a gutsy save late in the third, when he pulled the puck out from the goal line.

Overall, Sorokin’s performance looked encouraging. The panic button we all hit at the start of this season seems to have been for naught. Sorokin looks healthy and ready to become a major contributor again. It seems that his success will ultimately boil down to effective workload management.

Islanders didn’t generate many high-danger scoring chances

Unfortunately, the Islanders weren’t able to generate very many high-danger scoring chances. While the Islanders controlled the play for long sections of the game, they didn’t create the types of scoring opportunities that could lead to goals.

Perhaps the best chance the Isles had to score in regulation came on Bo Horvat’s shot that rang off the crossbar in the second period. Horvat had beaten Blues’ goalie Joel Hoffer but Horvat just ran into some bad luck as the shot hit the crossbar and bounced out.

Moving forward, the Islanders will need to get more scoring throughout the lineup in order to come away with wins in tight-checking games such as Thursday night’s game against the Blues.