Takeaways: Islanders End Road Trip with 4-1 Loss to Kraken

The New York Islanders closed out their seven-game road trip on a losing note, falling to the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena.

Anthony Duclair opened the scoring with a power-play goal, but Seattle stormed back with four unanswered goals from Matty Beniers (PPG), Vince Dunn (1G, 1A), Kaapo Kakko and Jared McCann.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 21-of-24 shots in the loss, while Philipp Grubauer stopped 24-or-25 in the win.

With the loss, the Islanders finish the trip with a 3-3-1 record with wins over Minnesota, Edmonton and Vancouver, losses to Winnipeg, Calgary and Seattle, as well as an OT loss to Nashville. The Isles alternated wins and losses each game of the trip.

“Average,” Ryan Pulock said about the road trip. “I thought we had a chance tonight to win a hockey game and go home with a pretty decent trip. Losing tonight, I think it was just okay.”

TAKEAWAYS

The Islanders power play was one of the main stories on Wednesday night, going 1-for-7.

It started on a high note, with Duclair burying a one-timer from the bumper position on the power play off a feed from Cal Ritchie. It marked the second-straight game and third time in the past four games Ritchie and Duclair had connected for a goal.

That was the high-water mark. The Isles had two more power plays in the opening eight minutes, but couldn’t extend their lead and had difficulty generating as much as they did on their first opportunity. In the second period, the Isles negated a power play eight seconds in.

“I didn't think we were very sharp, off in too many areas,” Anders Lee said. “Just a frustrating game tonight, I think we kind of shot ourselves in the foot more than they beat us.”

To the Kraken’s credit, Lee said Seattle ramped up the pressure on the penalty kill and Head Coach Patrick Roy felt his team passed up too many shots, despite finishing with seven shots on the man advantage.

“They did a good job putting pressure on us,” Roy said, also citing the Seattle forecheck. “We need to move the puck faster, make quicker decisions, move it up and throw more pucks at the net.”

The power play pendulum also swung the other way at times, with Seattle answering three early PKs with a five-on-three that saw Beniers deflect a Dunn shot to make it 1-1. Seattle finished the game 1-for-4 on the power play with four total shots.

- The Kraken broke the game open with a pair of goals 2:49 apart in the second period from Dunn and Kakko. Dunn scored at 13:37 of the middle frame as a three-on-two became a two-on-one became Dunn getting an open look in the slot for his seventh goal of the season.

The Kraken extended their lead to 3-1 at 16:28 after Jaden Schwartz fished the puck out from behind the net, setting up a trailing Kakko who had all sorts of time and space before beating Sorokin stick side.

Roy said the Islanders defensive tracking was the culprit on both goals.

“I wasn't happy the way we back checked on those plays,” Roy said.

That put the Isles in chase mode and despite some good looks throughout the night – Jonathan Drouin hit a post, Mathew Barzal had a nice cut across the net and Casey Cizikas nearly scored a shorthanded breakaway – but they could not close the gap.

- The Islanders' seven recorded hits were a season low, as were their five blocked shots.

- Duclair has remained red hot, scoring his fifth goal in the past five games – and eighth goal in the last eight games.

- Ritchie is riding a four-game assist streak.

- With a secondary assist on Duclair’s power-play goal, Mathew Barzal is up to five assists in his last five games.

- Max Shabanov returned to the lineup on Wednesday, skating 12:43 on a line with Casey Cizikas and Max Tsyplakov. Shabanov finished with two shots on goal and four total attempts. Of note, Shabanov had a strong shift at four-on-four where the Russian had a good shot, as well as a solid backcheck to break up a Kraken chance.

NEXT GAME

The Islanders return home to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Puck drop is at 1 p.m.