3 Takeaways: Islanders Lose to Devils 4-1

The New York Islanders dropped a 4-1 decision to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at UBS Arena, in the final game of their four-game homestand to open the season. The loss snapped the Isles' two-game winning streak.
The Devils took control of the game from the jump, eventually opening up a 3-0 lead on the Islanders. Jack Hughes and Ondrej Palat scored to pull the Devils up 2-0 in the second period, while Palat scored a second goal in the third.

Anders Lee scored one with the net empty to bring it to 3-1 in the final four minutes of the game, Nico Hischier sealed the game with an empty-netter, his third point of the night. Jesper Bratt had two primary assists in the win.
"It was extremely, extremely disappointing because we have been trending up," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "We've done a lot of good things along several games, but tonight was a tough night for everyone."

SOROKIN SOLID IN LOSS:

The final score could have been worse had it not been for another solid night from Ilya Sorokin, who turned aside 37 of the 40 shots he faced.
In a first period in which the Islanders failed to record a shot for over 17 minutes, Sorokin came up big for the Islanders, making five saves on an early penalty kill and 13 saves in the period overall. Without his stellar play, the game could have gotten out of hand early as he made three saves on high danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, including a great lateral save on Tomas Tatar on the Devils power play.
"He was outstanding," Mathew Barzal said. "Probably could have been three nothing after the first and he made some spectacular saves. It could have gotten ugly early on, and he was there for us."
DEVILS 4, ISLANDERS 1
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KINGER'S CALLS
Lee chips rebound
Sorokin allowed two goals in the second period, though it was hard to fault the Isles goaltender. Jack Hughes opened the scoring on a breakaway caused by an Islander defenseman getting caught flat footed. New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on a pass play where an Islander lost Ondrej Palat in the slot and the Devils forward finished off some pretty passing. Sorokin conceded the third late in the game on an odd man rush.
"He kept us in the game for a long period of time. He was obviously our best player," Lambert said.

ISLES OFFENSE CAN'T GET GOING IN LOSS:

The Islanders got off to an extremely slow start, allowing for an early Devils power play opportunity and spending the majority of the period in their own zone.
"We knew we weren't good enough," Ryan Pulock said. "We knew we had [to be] a lot better and we had to find it. Ilya gave us a chance there to find a way to bear down, which we couldn't do. Win some more battles to get some more possession, and just have some composure with the puck and make plays and we just weren't able to do that all day."
After generating 45 shots against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, the Islanders were held to 17 shots against New Jersey, their fewest since Jan. 18, 2021 against Boston. They were outshot 13-3 in the first period, 10-9 in the second and 18-5 in the third period.
The offense had a hard time finding its rhythm, missing passes on miscommunications or putting them in skates versus on sticks. While the PK was 3-for-3 (15-for-15 on the season) the power play was 0-for-2 the Islanders negated their own much-needed power play opportunity in the second by taking a high-sticking penalty. In the third period, the Islanders had perhaps their best look on net of the game and killed their momentum immediately after with a penalty.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Devils had 14 high danger chances compared to just four for the Islanders.
"They came at us hard," Lambert said. "We just we failed to make plays. We all know we're better than that. We'll look at it and learn from it, because that's what we have to do."

ANDERS LEE POINT STREAK CONTINUES:

Lee extended his point streak to three games with his second goal of the season at the end of the third period. Lee's goal came at the net front with the Islanders' net empty and an extra attacker on the ice. Mathew Barzal threw the puck on net, and Kyle Palmieri tried to tap it in, and Lee corralled the rebound and chipped it past Blackwood and into the net.
Lee now leads the team in scoring with five points (2G, 3A) across four games this season. Barzal is tied for second with four points, all assists. Lee played his 600th game as an Islander on Thursday. He was the 19th player in team history to play 600 games with the team.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head to Florida for a weekend back-to-back set that begins on Saturday night in Tampa Bay. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.