Rapid Reaction: New York Islanders Let Lead Slip Away in Third Period

The New York Islanders had their point streak come to an end at seven games after falling to the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center. The Islanders move to 5-3-2 on the season with the loss. 

How it Happened: A two-goal effort from Anders Lee wasn’t enough to lead the New York Islanders to a win on Sunday night. Minnesota scored twice in the third period to claw back from a 2-1 deficit. Ryan Hartman tied the game at two at the 7:17 mark of the third period after getting his own rebound and putting it past Semyon Varlamov.

Minnesota took the lead Just over two minutes later when Brandon Duhaime scored his first of the night when he fired the puck over the shoulder of Varlamov to give his team a 3-2 lead. Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba each scored an empty-net goal as well.

The first of the two goals for Lee came at the 19:41 mark of the first period when a shot from the point by Zdeno Chara hit Lee and the Islanders’ captain put the loose puck past Minnesota starter Kaapo Kahkonen to make it 1-0. Minnesota evened the score at one in the second period when Duhaime fired a wrist shot past Varlamov from inside the faceoff circle hitting Nick Bjugstad and going in.

The game remained tied for less than three minutes before Lee picked up his second of the night to put New York up 2-1. The play started with Mathew Barzal charging up the ice with the puck to create a 2-on-1 rush and then feeding Lee for the goal. The goal was Lee’s fourth of the season and came at 12:04 of the second period.

Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves for the Islanders in his first start since Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals.

Third Period Struggles: The New York Islanders let a slim 2-1 lead slip away in the third period. The Islanders didn’t play a perfect game through the first 40 minutes, but the third period is where Minnesota made them pay. New York was outshot 16-2 and couldn’t withstand the push from a talented Minnesota team.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Islanders were out-chanced by a wide margin in the third. Minnesota held the edge in scoring chances 6-2 and the high danger chances were 3-0 in favor of the home side.

“They came out with a strong push to start the period,” Matt Martin said. “They’re a good hockey team. We’re a good hockey team too. We don’t give up a lot of leads in the third period over the last three years, but the crowd was behind them. Scored a couple of nice goals and weren’t able to get one back. We’ll go home take a couple of days and regroup.”

Varlamov Returns: Semyon Varlamov hasn’t suited up in an NHL game since Game 7 against Tampa Bay and for the most part played well against Minnesota. The New York Islanders didn’t make it easy on him at times, forcing the veteran goaltender to have to make several tough saves in a row. The 34 save effort was a good one for Varlamov, but there were a few moments that he’d like to have back.

The go-ahead goal was one that Varlamov would like to have back. The wrister from Duhaime appeared to catch Varalmov off guard and he wasn’t in the right position to make the save.

“He was definitely up to the task,” Mathew Barzal said about Varlamov. “It’s nice to see him back doing his thing in net. Obviously, he’s a guy that everyone loves in the locker room. He works extremely hard off the ice. It’s great to see him get back after I know he worked really hard on his rehab.”

Varly tested early 👀 pic.twitter.com/pZ7JE9BRQW

— Isles on MSG+ (@IslesMSGN) November 8, 2021

Still Looking for Consistency: The New York Islanders’ effort on Sunday wasn’t the 85 percent that head coach Barry Trotz had seen out of his group the night before in Winnipeg. The Islanders played well for roughly 40 minutes before Minnesota put them back on their heels and New York didn’t have an answer.

Trotz has been preaching that the Islanders have another level to their game and they haven’t reached it yet. When NYI Hockey Now asked him what that looked like, the basic premise was that the Islanders would have consistent detail in their game from the top line to the fourth line. That wasn’t the case on Sunday as New York had spurts of good play mixed in and then didn’t have an answer in the third.

“It got away from us probably in those three, four-minute time frames,” Trotz said. “Then we didn’t have enough push after that. They did a good job of closing on us quick.”

Top Line Clicking: A two-goal night is nothing to scoff at and Anders Lee had a good game for the New York Islanders, along with the rest of the top line. Mathew Barzal had a hand in both of Lee’s goals, which included showing off his speed to create an odd-man rush that led to the second goal.

Lee has three goals in his last two games and Barzal has five points over five games.

Barzal carries the puck up the ice, sets Lee up with a royal road pass for his second of the game #Isles pic.twitter.com/7i1nSkx0Xw

— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) November 8, 2021

Up Next: The New York Islanders will have a few days off before facing the New Jersey Devils on Thursday at the Prudential Center.