Takeaways: Islanders Wrap Preseason With 4-1 Loss to Devils

The New York Islanders closed out the preseason on a losing note, falling 4-1 to the New Jersey Devils at UBS Arena.

Luke Evangelista (2G) scored twice, while Arseny Gritsyuk and Dougie Hamilton also scored for New Jersey, who built a 4-0 lead by the end of the second period. Simon Holmstrom scored the lone goal for the Islanders, breaking Jake Allen’s shutout bid with 4:39 to play.

With the loss, the Islanders close out the preseason with a 1-3-0 record – effectively 1-1-0 on nights they iced a veteran-heavy lineup.

“I really liked parts of it,” Head Coach Pete DeBoer said of the team’s preseason. “The Ranger game, I really liked how we looked and how we played. Tonight, I didn't.”

“You don't want to overreact,” DeBoer added. “Tonight wasn't our best night, and thank God it didn't cost us two points.”

Systems A Work In Progress

DeBoer and the Islanders acknowledged that it’s still a work in progress for the team to adapt to new systems. The Islanders were outshot 26-15 on Saturday and only generated five high-danger chances at five-on-five (per Natural Stat Trick) compared to 11 for New Jersey.

Defensive breakdowns led to the Devils third and fourth goals and a handful of other quality chances and the Islanders offense passed up a few too many shooting opportunities. Matthew Schaefer (lower body) and Brayden Schenn (upper body) were held out for precautionary reasons, and coupled with Mathew Barzal (lower body) and Tony DeAngelo out of the lineup likely added to the Isles low shot and chance totals.

“We got just outskated and outworked in general tonight, so that's not a system adjustment thing,” Kyle Palmieri said. “Turn the page on the preseason here and get ourselves ready for Toronto on Wednesday.”

DeBoer said it took the San Jose Sharks till about Christmas to fully grasp his system in his first season back in 2015-16. The Islanders said they see the potential in the system.

“As a group we kind of have a good taste for what's going to make us successful, even though we kind of got away from it tonight,” Kyle Palmieri said. “A couple good days of practice and get ourselves feeling good and confident and ready to go.”

Sorokin Plays Full Game

Ilya Sorokin played his first full game of the preseason on Saturday, stopping 22-of-26 shots in the loss.

Sorokin was certainly the busier of the two netminders both in terms of quantity and quality of shots and even on a night where he allowed four goals - was called the Islanders best player by JG Pageau. 

Sorokin likely wanted Gritsyuk’s goal – the Devils second and eventual winner – back, as he was beat under the arm on a wrister from the top of the circle, but it was tough to fault him on either Evangelista goal. The Devils forward had all sorts of time and space in the low slot for a power-play goal to open the scoring in the first period and knocked in a rebound at the side of the net to make it 3-0 in the second.

Sorokin was beat high short side by Hamilton on the 4-0 goal, but on a play where the defenseman again had time and space to load up from in tight.

Sorokin looked to settle in as the game wore on, making a pair of quality lateral saves on Connor Brown and later on Dawson Mercer. He stopped a Jack Hughes breakaway in the third.

The Islanders netminder allowed seven goals in one-and-a-half preseason games, but that’s not atypical, as goalies typically take a little longer to get up to game speed. Sorokin allowed six goals in two preseason games last year and was the runner-up for the Vezina Trophy.

Isles Go 11/7

The Islanders went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen on Saturday night. That allowed DeBoer the chance to evaluate Kashawn Aitcheson, Isaiah George and Matt Kessel on the back end. Aitcheson generated the most ice time of the three, recording a pair of shots in 16:10 TOI. Kessel logged 15:28 TOI while George logged 10:43 TOI.

Holmstrom’s 22:32 TOI led all Islanders. He roofed a shot up high on Allen late in the third period for his first goal of the preseason.

Next Game

The Isles open the regular season on Wednesday night in Toronto. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.