Frank Nazar and Tyler Bertuzzi each had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks (27-31-13), who had lost two in a row (0-1-1) and four of five (1-2-2). Arvid Soderblom made 44 saves.
“I thought early in the game they came out with tons of jump,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “Then I thought we actually played really, really well for about 20-30 minutes. In the third, we did a couple of things to allow more momentum from them, and then it just built and built and then it builds and then they score and then momentum continues to go the other way. ... You want to learn lessons and grow, and you'd rather do it with a win.”
Anders Lee, Simon Holmstrom and Calum Ritchie scored for the Islanders (40-27-5), who have lost three of their past four games (1-3-0). David Rittich allowed three goals on 12 shots before being replaced at the start of the second period by Ilya Sorokin, who made 11 saves in relief.
New York fell out of a playoff position with the loss. The Islanders are tied in points for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference with the Ottawa Senators, who defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Tuesday, but have played one more game.
“I liked our start. I mean, we came out flying," Lee said. “We just had some turnovers that ended up in our net, and then you get a shot that goes off the body behind the goalie and it's 3-1. I mean, other than our mistakes, there's nothing to do with our intensity or will to win. We just messed up.”
Lee gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 49 seconds into the first period. He deflected Matthew Schaefers point shot in the low slot under Soderblom’s glove.
Bo Horvat had an opportunity to extend the lead after he found himself all alone in front, but Soderblom made the initial save before sticking out his left pad to deny the rebound opportunity.
Lardis then tied the game 1-1 at 12:46, scoring five-hole from in front off a pass from Nazar, who had missed the net on a 2-on-0 rush with Bertuzzi. The play started with Mathew Barzal turning the puck over at the offensive blue line.
“We turned over pucks at the blue line and they took advantage of it,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “We talked about it before the game. It's a team that has a lot of good rush players and it's a good rush team. So I mean, if we give them that chance, that's what's going to happen. It's fine that we were making mistakes, but I feel like we should have recovered from it. We should have backchecked and tried to protect the net-front on that first goal. And I thought that was maybe the difference in the game.”
