ELMONT, NY — The New York Islanders looked to continue to ride the UBS Arena momentum Monday against the Detroit Red Wings after defeating the St. Louis Blues Saturday on home ice.
Instead, the Isles reverted to some old bad habits and gave up a third-period lead again to fall to Detroit 4-2 in another Long Island heartbreaker.
The game started with four minutes of nonstop action, during which both teams scored scoring chances. Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond was alone near the net but could not poke it home when the puck found him with a yawning cage.
The Islanders started to pressure shortly after, and captain Anders Lee capitalized to score his eighth goal of the season. Detroit goalie Alexander Lyon lost his stick earlier in the play, and just as he reached for it, Jean-Gabriel Pageau passed it to Lee, who made no mistake, giving the Islanders a 1-0 lead.
Noah Dobson got the secondary assist on the goal, which now gives him 200 career NHL points.
Another long stretch without a whistle followed before being ended by a goal once again.
This time, it came from Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider, who blasted a one-timer shot from the top of the circle that traveled over Semyon Varlamov and into the upper-right corner of the net.
© Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images
It was just the second shot of the game for Detroit, which came 13 minutes into the period.
The rest of the period saw both teams trading penalties without much action happening with them.
The Islanders were given the first-man advantage but only managed to get one shot. The Red Wings followed with their own, and they only got one shot. However, with just over a minute remaining in the period, they took a penalty, cutting their power play short.
Nothing came on the Islanders’ abbreviated power play to start the second.
Not long after, New York took a 2-1 lead off the stick of Kyle Palmieri. Isaiah George shot the puck from the blue line, and it deflected off Brock Nelson and right to Palmieri, who pushed it past Lyon and extended his team lead in goals to 10.
This is the first time in three tries this season the Islanders have scored more than one goal against Detroit.
The shot from George gets him credit for his first career NHL point in his 10th career game.
The Red Wings went back on the power play after the Islanders committed a penalty for having too many men on the ice.
A heroic effort from Nelson and Palmieri kept the puck in the Detroit end more than it was in the Islanders’ end and killed the penalty without a shot against.
During the kill, Nelson did get a breakaway but was stopped by Lyon.
New York found themselves right back in the penalty box with 2:24 remaining as Grant Hutton cross-checked Tyler Motte a little too hard into the boards and was called for boarding.
This time, the Red Wings spent nearly all of the two minutes on the attack but could not convert with just one shot finding Varlamov.
The third period came with the Islanders leading 2-1 and looking to add more.
Bo Horvat had a prime opportunity right in front of the net that Pageau set up. Pageau had the puck at the end boards and then threw it to Horvat, but he sent it right into Lyon’s chest.
New York got their third power play at the halfway mark of the period, but no shots wound up on the net.
Right after the penalty expired the Red Wings tied the score at 2-2. Dylan Larkin, who served the penalty received a pass in the slot and turned around and swept it into the net.
After the goal, Detroit continued to press and scored once again to take a 3-2 lead.
Simon Edvinsson fired a shot from the blue line and found Raymond’s stick, who lifted the puck over Varlamov’s pad with six minutes remaining.
The two goals were separated by 2:33.
With around four minutes to go, Ben Chiarot hit Lee from his numbers straight into the boards. Lee got up, not happy, and started to fight Chiarot and wrestled him down.
Neither team ended the altercation with a power play, as both players were equally penalized.
Varlamov went to the bench with 2:49 to play and had a few chances but could not find a way to put the puck in the net. Simon Holmstrom had the best chance, as a bouncing puck landed on his stick in the slot, but Lyon stoned him.
Edvinsson iced the game at 4-2 with an empty-net goal, a clearing attempt that rolled into the Islanders’ goal.
The Islanders host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday at 7:30 PM.
