NY Islanders can't overcome costly mistakes in frustrating 4-3 loss to Blackhawks

The New York Islanders came out with energy and intent Tuesday night, but a stretch of costly mistakes proved too much to overcome in a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Anders Lee set the tone early, deflecting a Mathew Schaefer point shot just 49 seconds into the game to give the Islanders a quick 1-0 lead. From there, however, the game turned on turnovers and missed defensive recoveries — something both Lee and head coach Patrick Roy pointed to afterward.

“I liked our start. I mean, we came out flying,” Lee said. “We just had some turnovers that ended up in our net… other than our mistakes, there’s nothing to do with our intensity or will to win. We just messed up.”

Chicago capitalized quickly. A turnover at the offensive blue line led to the tying goal, and the Blackhawks followed with two more late in the first period to take control.

“We turned over pucks at the blue line and they took advantage of it,” Roy said. “We talked about it before the game… it’s a team that has a lot of good rush players… if we give them that chance, that’s what’s going to happen.”

The Islanders found themselves chasing the game the rest of the night.

David Rittich was pulled after allowing three goals on 12 shots, with Ilya Sorokin taking over in relief. Chicago extended its lead to 4-1 in the second before the Islanders mounted a push in the third.

Simon Holmstrom and Calum Ritchie scored to cut the deficit to one, and New York poured on pressure late, but could not find the equalizer.

Roy pointed to the lack of recovery on key plays as the difference.

“I feel like we should have recovered from it. We should have backchecked and tried to protect the net-front… that was maybe the difference in the game.”

With the loss, the Islanders slipped out of a playoff position, making every mistake — and every missed opportunity — that much more costly.