Notebook: Isles Fall to Predators 8-3

Tuesday night was an uncharacteristic for the New York Islanders.
It marked the first time under Head Coach Barry Trotz that the Isles had allowed eight goals, as the Isles fell 8-3 to the Nashville Predators at NYCB Live.
"I can't remember the last time one of my teams gave up eight goals," Trotz said. "We're not going dwell on it. We can't do anything about getting this game back... You have to let it go. You have to tear it up a little bit and move on."
It was unlike the usually-stingy Islanders, who had a 3-1 lead, but allowed seven unanswered goals. Tuesday marked the Isles first regulation loss (19-1-1) when scoring three-or-more goals.
The lopsided loss also ended the Islanders' three-game winning streak, as well as the team's 13-game home point streak (12-0-1).
BOXSCORE

ISLES ALLOW SEVEN UNANSWERED GOALS IN LOSS:

Things looked good for the Islanders early in the second period, as Brock Nelson, Derick Brassard and Casey Cizikas scored three goals in a 5:16 span to put the Isles up 3-1.
All three shooters beat Pekka Rinne far side. Nelson kept and shot on a two-on-one rush with Anders Lee, snapping a shot low stick side. Cizikas' goal was eerily similar, save for the fact that it was shorthanded. Brassard picked a corner with a heavy wrister from the top of the circle for a power-play goal at 8:11.
That was the high point of the night for the Islanders, as Nashville responded with seven unanswered goals. Filip Forsberg got the ball rolling with a power-play goal at 8:38 of the second period, while Craig Smith's second of the night tied the score 3-3 at 10:58.
The game was still up for grabs at that point, but the real damage was done in the last 90 seconds of the period. Mattias Ekholm's knuckler from the point caromed off Nick Bonino and in at 18:24 to give Nashville a 4-3 lead and Rocco Grimaldi's roof job made it 5-3 at 19:12.
"We lost it tonight. We lost that momentum tonight and we weren't able to grab it back," Lee said. "I think that's the frustrating part. It definitely obviously slipped away from us. It's just one of those nights where you have to sit on this in the evening and then wake up tomorrow and get back to work."

Grimaldi's goal spelled the end of Greiss' night, as he allowed five goals on 15 shots, but things didn't improve once Semyon Varlamov took over for the third period, as he allowed three goals on nine shots. For as off a night as it was for the team, it was an especially weird game for the two netminders, who entered the night top-10 in both goals-against average and save percentage.
"Tonight, it was unfortunate. We couldn't get a stop," Trotz said. "Our goalies have bailed us out so many times this year. Tonight, we couldn't bail them out."
The Predators scored on their first two shots against Varlamov, as Calle Jarnkrok roofed a shot past Varlamov at 8:59, while Roman Josi's power-play goal made it 7-3 at 11:36. Ryan Johansen made it 8-3 at 14:08.
The plan in the Isles room was just to forget the forgettable night - turn the page and get ready for a matchup with the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
"The score got away from us for sure a little bit," Lee said. "We've got to just regroup here move on and put this one behind us. This doesn't happen often. At least not at all recently for sure. We [need to] respond in Boston."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head up to Boston for a nationally-televised clash with the Bruins. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.