Takeaways: Islanders Drop 5-1 Decision to Ducks

The New York Islanders five-game winning streak came to an end at the Anaheim Ducks with a 5-1 loss at Honda Center on Wednesday night.

Anders Lee (PPG) scored the lone goal for the Isles, while Cutter Gauthier (2G) and Beckett Sennecke (1G, 1A), Ryan Poehling and Frank Vatrano (EN) scored for the Ducks.

David Rittich stopped 21 of 25 shots faced in his second straight start, while Ville Husso had a 42-save performance in the win.

“We didn't have our game tonight,” Lee said. “We were off in too many areas. Yeah, we created 42 shots, but we probably could have buried a few of them. You let up five, you probably don't deserve to win that game. That was the case tonight, we just weren’t as good as we needed to be.”

The Islanders (75 points) are third in the Metropolitan Division but didn’t lose ground on the teams they’re chasing or being chased by. The second-place Pittsburgh Penguins (who also have 75 points and have two games in-hand over the Islanders), Columbus Blue Jackets (70 points) and Washington Capitals (69 points) were idle on Wednesday night.

TAKEAWAYS

• The Islanders came overcame multi-goal deficits in each of their last three wins but couldn’t do it again on Wednesday night as they fell in a 3-1 hole and couldn’t recover. The Ducks, who were hungry to bounce back from a 5-1 loss to Colorado the night before, took advantage of a Tony DeAngelo hooking penalty and potted a power play goal to tie the score. Gauthier fired off a shot from the left circle to even the score at one apiece at the 12:56 mark of the first period. Gauthier scored his second in the frame as he deposited a cross-ice pass from Leo Carlsson in the right dot. Sennecke had a wide-open net to shoot at for the Ducks’ third goal of the game to take a 3-1 lead.
• Head Coach Patrick Roy thought his team had a better second period, as they held a 13-4 shot advantage in the middle frame. Down 3-1, Casey Cizikas’ line with Kyle MacLean and Marc Gatcomb poured on the pressure at the end of the second period but couldn’t convert.

“[That line] brings energy and they play well defensively, they forecheck well,” Roy said. “That’s exactly what our team needs.”

• Poehling received a centering feed from Ryan Strome and snuck a shot past the left pad of Rittich to extend Anaheim’s lead to 4-1 early in the third period.
• Lee scored the lone goal for the Isles 4:58 into the game. DeAngelo’s shot from the point ricocheted off the pads of Husso and right in the slot for Lee, who buried the loose change on the power play to open the scoring while extending his goal streak to four games. It marks his longest goal streak since he had a six-game streak from March 7-17, 2022. With his 304^th career goal, Lee tied Clark Gillies for fourth place on the Islanders’ all-time list.

“We had a lot of shots, obviously Husso played great, but we have to find his weak spots,” Matthew Schaefer said. “Power plays too, we should have had more shots. Like Anders’ goal, it was a rebound. If we had more net presence like that it would have helped a little bit.”

• Special teams shaped the contest, as each team had four power plays. The Islanders went 1-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the kill.

“It slows things down,” Lee said of the number of penalties. “You get out of your fold a little bit. It happens every once in a while, but you have to find your way and your legs coming out of those situations.”

• Though a loss to start the four-game road trip doesn’t sit well with the Islanders, they don’t have much time to dwell on the loss as they’ll face the LA Kings on Thursday to complete the back-to-back set.

“We have to wipe tonight,” Lee said. “We’ve got a big game tomorrow. Let’s be ready to go and get it.”

• Ryan Pulock missed the contest with an upper-body injury and Adam Boqvist drew into the lineup in his place, playing for the first time since Jan. 26. Boqvist skated 13:40 TOI and recorded one shot on a pair with Carson Soucy, while Scott Mayfield was reunited on a pair with Matthew Schaefer.

“You can see how important he is to our team,” Roy said of Pulock’s absence. “It’s always hard to lose one of your best [defensemen], but we have to find ways to win.”

NEXT GAME

The Islanders continue their four-game road trip with a stop in Los Angeles to face the Kings on Thursday. Puck drop is set for 9:30 EST.