3 Takeaways: Islanders Effort Not Rewarded in 5-3 Loss to Lightning

The New York Islanders liked their effort, but not the result, in Saturday night's 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Islanders outshot the Bolts 36-26, out-attempted them 72-46, outhit the Bolts 48-29 and played large swaths of the game in the offensive zone. Regardless, it added up to a second-straight loss and dropped the Islanders to 2-3-0.

Matt Martin, Anthony Beauvillier and Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders, but it was not enough to establish any leads against the Lightning. Brayden Point (1G, 1A), Nick Paul (1G, 1A) and Brandon Hagel (1G, 1A) each had multi-point games, while Alex Killorn and Corey Perry also found the back of the net.
"It was a very good effort," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "I thought we competed hard, but we made some mistakes."

GOOD EFFORT, BAD RESULT:

The Islanders were determined to come out with a better effort than they displayed in Thursday's 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
It was evident from the drop of the puck, as the Islanders outshot the Lightning 10-3 in the early going in the first period. Just as the Islanders were building momentum, a mistake led to a goal against and tipped the scales in Tampa's favor.
"We played a good hockey game," Martin said. "A couple of plays where we shot ourself in the foot, but overall if we play like that we're going to win more often than not."
On the Lightning's first goal, Scott Mayfield mishandled an Ilya Sorokin (21 saves) pass behind the net, setting off a sequence that led to Brayden Point opening the scoring at 10:43. Brandon Hagel pressured Mayfield and worked the puck to Nikita Kucherov who banked it off the net allowing Point to chip it home.
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The Islanders got a similar gift later in the period, as Corey Perry threw the puck right to Martin in the slot, leading the Islanders winger to snap a shot blocker side past Brian Elliott (33 saves) at 12:29.
While the Islanders had the shot and possession advantage in the first period, the Lightning ultimately had the lead. A long try from Point hit the crossbar, but was quickly knocked in by Hagel to give the Bolts a 2-1 lead at 18:03.
The Islanders seemingly built some momentum to start the second period, killing off a 42-second five-on-three for the Bolts. But just after returning to even strength, Tampa took a 3-1 lead, as Perry atoned for his earlier mistake, converting a cross-crease feed from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare at 3:12.
Anthony Beauvillier squeaked a backhander through Brian Elliott at 9:36 of the second period to make it 3-2, but Nick Paul scored a backbreaker for the Bolts, beating Sorokin far side with 0.1 seconds left on the clock in the middle frame.
Ryan Pulock's first goal of the season made it interesting at 5:45 of the third period, but that was as close as the Islanders would come, as Alex Killorn iced it with 5:52 to play.
"We just made some big mistakes at some bad times," Cal Clutterbuck said. "When you're a team that wins consistently, you don't make those mistakes... We'll correct it. The main positive was that I think we were on our toes for most of the night and we carried the play most of the night. Sometimes it doesn't happen for you. Sometimes they make you work for it. We just have to show up tomorrow and do the same thing."

PENALTY KILL STAYS PERFECT:

The Islanders perfect penalty kill passed its stiffest test of the season, going three-for-three against the league's fourth-ranked power play, which had scored twice the night before in Florida.
The best moment for the shorthanded unit came at the start of the second period when it killed off a 42-second five-on-three.
"We had a good plan and we executed it well," said Clutterbuck, whose 10 hits were the third highest of his career. "We got some saves when we needed it and that's all you can do on a penalty kill especially against a team that's got that much talent."
The PK is now 18-for-18 to start the season.

LINEUP CHANGES:

The Islanders made some changes ahead of Saturday's game.
Josh Bailey was a healthy scratch, while Nikita Soshnikov drew into the lineup for his second game of the season. Soshnikov skated alongside Oliver Wahlstrom and JG Pageau, playing 10:26 TOI with three hits and three shot attempts.
"We just needed to get a spark and it was a good opportunity to put Soshnikov in," Lambert said of the decision.
Robin Salo was assigned to Bridgeport, clearing room on the roster for the team to activate Sebastian Aho off IR. Aho played 14:18, including 2:03 on the power play, largely on a pairing with Scott Mayfield.
Lambert also tweaked his lineup mid game, breaking up the Alexander Romanov-Noah Dobson pairing in the first period. Romanov largely skated with Ryan Pulock the rest of the way, while Dobson played with Adam Pelech.
Lambert said the decision had more to do with the Lightning having the last change and the coach not liking the matchups.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders wrap up a back-to-back set on Sunday evening when they take on the Florida Panthers. Puck drop is at 5 p.m.