Recap: Isles Streak Ends With 4-2 Loss in Vegas

The New York Islanders came to Las Vegas with a three-game winning streak, were dealt a 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson had the Islanders up 2-0 after the first period, but the Golden Knights came on strong in the second and third periods to halt the Isles streak.

"We played a good 20 minutes to start and then after that we were just flat," Anders Lee said. "They put a good push on and we couldn't seem to get anything going after that. It's going to be tough to win hockey games doing that, especially in this building. They took over the game after that."

Vegas outshot the Islanders 47-21 on Thursday, including 31-16 in the second and third periods.
The Golden Knights comeback started with Brandon Pirri's power-play goal at 8:48 of the second period and essentially ended when William Karlsson and Paul Stastny scored 1:03 apart in the third period.
Vegas applied constant pressure from Pirri's goal to Nate Schmidt's empty-netter and the Islanders couldn't seem to swing the momentum, not even after an offside challenged overturned a Knights goal in the second period.
"They played well, they were the better team tonight," Josh Bailey said. "We were still in a position to win the game tonight and I think that's where a little bit of frustration comes in. We let it slip away. We'll talk tomorrow about it, learn from it and be better for it."
Thomas Greiss made 43 saves in the loss, while Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 in the win. Fleury clamped down after giving up the two quick strikes to Barzal and Nelson, robbing Barzal in the final minute of the second period.
There was a bit of frustration from the Islanders bench after Oscar Lindberg's high hit on Johnny Boychuk at 5:21 of the third period. Anthony Beauvillier stepped up to defend Boychuk and wound up with an offsetting roughing minor instead of a power play, with Karlsson scoring on the ensuing four-on-four.

Head Coach Barry Trotz said his team needed to do a better job of staying focused after the play.
"The four-on-four is on us. We play the game, but I thought our bench wasn't as focused as we needed to be with some of the stuff that happened," Trotz said. "That's on me and our group. I had to settle them down. I didn't do my job."
Boychuk was evaluated and returned to the game.

NOTES:

Ryan Pulock recorded his fifth assist in three games on Nelson's goal… Nelson's goal was his 12th of the season and tied Anders Lee for the team lead… Mathew Barzal's goal was his fifth of the season... Barzal and Josh Bailey both lead the Islanders with 28 points apiece.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders complete their four-game road trip - and pre-Christmas schedule - on Sunday night in Dallas. Puck drop is at 8 p.m. eastern.