ELMONT, NY — The New York Islanders experienced a defensive collapse in their most important game of the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. After leading 3-1, they conceded three goals in 3:34 and faced further struggles when the Penguins played the puck down the left boards late in the second period. The puck ended up on the right side where all five Islanders were out of position, leaving Anthony Mantha open at the left circle. Justin Brazeau passed to Mantha, who scored past goalie Ilya Sorokin.
Within a span of 6:17, the Islanders allowed five goals and eventually seven unanswered goals in the second and third periods, leading to an 8-3 loss that tightened the Eastern Conference playoff race.
“We were just awful defensively,” acknowledged defenseman Ryan Pulock. “Guys behind us, breakaways, losing puck battles. Halfway through that period, we were just awful.”
Before the game, the Islanders held a one-point lead for second place in the Metropolitan Division but showed weak resistance, allowing many high-danger chances.
“We gave them 11 chances in that second period, are you kidding me?” said head coach Patrick Roy. “That was probably our worst game defensively in a while. We can’t give that many chances and think that we’re gonna win hockey games. There’s things we need to do better defensively.”
The intermission did not change the course as Avery Hayes scored on a 3-on-1 break, and Rickard Rakell scored after Sorokin was left unprotected. Sorokin was replaced by David Rittich for the last 12 minutes. Sorokin’s availability for the second game of the back-to-back against the Sabres in Buffalo is uncertain.
The Islanders are now one point behind the Penguins for second in the Metropolitan Division and just one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who hold the second Wild Card spot with a game in hand in the Eastern Conference.
“We know what we did, we know what’s wrong, we know what we need to do to play the right way,” said Pulock. “And that’s regrouping mentally for [Tuesday]. That’s all that matters right now. Understand what went wrong, understand what we did. That’s not us. It was a big game, and we didn’t do it the right way.”
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