The New York Islanders kept finding a way to get themselves back into the game Monday night. They just couldn’t finish it.
San Jose beat the Islanders 3-2 in an eight-round shootout at SAP Center, handing New York a fourth straight loss and stretching its winless run to four games at 0-2-2. The Islanders twice owned a one-goal lead, but the Sharks answered both times and then got the only shootout goal from Ivar Stenberg. Yaroslav Askarov turned away all eight Islanders attempts in the tiebreaker and helped San Jose snap a five-game losing streak.
Victor Eklund and Ben Hutton scored for the Islanders, while Ilya Sorokin was sharp again with 37 saves in a performance that still didn’t earn his team two points. New York fell to 7-6-4.
Ben Hutton got the Islanders on the board first at 6:14 of the opening period, finishing a diagonal pass from Simon Holmstrom at the back post for his first goal with the club. San Jose pulled even at 16:41 when Tyler Toffoli fired from the right circle and the puck deflected off Stenberg’s stick and past Sorokin.
New York answered quickly in the second. Just 1:11 into the period, Brayden Schenn set up Matthew Schaefer, who found Eklund near the right hash marks. The rookie buried a one-timer for his sixth goal of the season and his third in as many games, putting the Islanders back in front on the power play.
That lead lasted until 12:12, when the Sharks tied it again six seconds after an Islanders penalty expired. Sorokin stopped Dmitry Orlov’s first shot, but the rebound landed with Toffoli in the left circle. His shot then deflected off Adam Pelech’s face and into the net.
The third period stayed scoreless, though the Islanders had chances early to grab the lead again. DeBoer said, “That’s the game right there.
We reset, came out for the third, 2-2 game, 20 minutes to win it,” and added, “I loved how we started. I think we had five or six grade A looks in the first five minutes of the third period.
You have to stick one of those in the net.”
After overtime solved nothing, the game went to a shootout that dragged into the eighth round before Stenberg slipped one past Sorokin over the glove with a wrist shot. Askarov closed the door the rest of the way, finishing with 30 saves in regulation and overtime before blanking every Islanders shooter.
The result was another tough one for New York, which has had trouble sustaining the structured, defensively responsible play it showed in its opening month under DeBoer. The Islanders have picked up points in each of their last two games, but the standings haven’t moved much, and the inability to cash in on chances keeps costing them.
In Other News...
Matthew Schaefer Just Got A Contract Warning Islanders Fans Can't Ignore
Matthew Schaefers early NHL rise has already put him in the same conversation as some of the leagues most promising young stars, and Macklin Celebrini is the latest reminder of how quickly that market can move. The Islanders defenseman and the Sharks captain have crossed paths in limited head-to-head action, but their connection runs deeper than a few games, with both having worn Team Canada colors and spent time in the spotlight as franchise cornerstones before either had fully settled into an NHL routine.
Celebrinis recent extension only sharpens the focus on what comes next for Schaefer and the Islanders. For a player still building his resume, every strong stretch matters, because the numbers and the role are already pointing toward a major negotiation down the line. The bigger question now is how New York frames that next deal, and how much leverage Schaefers growing profile gives him when the time comes to turn promise into a long-term commitment. [Read more 🡒]
Barzal's Islanders Return Suddenly Feels Closer Than It Did
Mat Barzal is back around the Islanders again, and that alone is enough to make this California trip feel a little different. He joined the team on the road after being out recently because of inflammation connected to a previous knee injury, a sign that the club is at least moving closer to getting one of its most important players back in the mix.
The Islanders also brought Matias Maccelli and Ryan Pulock along on the trip while they deal with injuries, so this is not a clean bill of health by any stretch. Still, Barzals presence on the trip is the kind of encouraging development that can change the tone around a team, especially when it has spent so much time waiting for key pieces to return and for the lineup to look like itself again. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Have A Real Opening To Climb The Metro Fast
The Islanders just came through a six-game run against playoff teams and came out of it at 2-3-1, which is hardly a disaster in a division race that still feels tight. More importantly, they did enough to keep themselves in striking distance, and the next few weeks could tell a lot about whether they can turn that into a real climb in the Metropolitan standings.
What makes the upcoming schedule so intriguing is the volume and variety, with 10 games in 19 days against a different set of opponents and only a limited number of chances to directly chip away at divisional rivals. For a team that has already shown it can hang in tough stretches, the timing matters, especially if some of the roster pieces that have been out can start filtering back in and give the Islanders a little more punch when the race tightens. [Read more 🡒]