Even this dominant group of Islanders can let a game get away.
Things were going well for nearly a period and a half — until they weren’t. The Islanders had doubled the Predators’ shots on goal by the conclusion of the first period and, despite trailing by a goal, looked every bit the team that is second in the Metropolitan Division. But a four-goal second period for the Predators buried the Islanders in an 8-3 loss at Nassau Coliseum. The defeat snapped the Islanders’ 13-game point streak at home.
The Predators scored seven unanswered goals after the Islanders had grabbed a 3-1 lead on goals by Brock Nelson, Derick Brassard and Casey Cizikas in a 5:16 span of the second period.
Cizikas finessed his second short-handed tally of the season to give the Islanders that two-goal lead, but a power-play goal from Filip Forsberg at 8:38 of the second ignited an outpouring of offensive production from Nashville, which was coming off a win over the Rangers on Monday at the Garden, that took the home team by surprise.
The Islanders, who had won their previous eight games at Nassau Coliseum, never regained their hold on the game.
Craig Smith had two goals and an assist, Filip Forsberg, Calle Jarnkrok, Roman Josi and Ryan Johansen each had a goal and an assist, and Rocco Grimaldi and Nick Bonino also scored for Nashville.
Smith notched his second goal of the night off a sharp feed from behind the Isles’ net to tie the game at three. Mattias Ekholm put the puck on net with a shot from the top of the zone and Bonino tipped it past Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss, giving Nashville the lead for good in the final two minutes of the second period.
Semyon Varlamov replaced Greiss to start the third period and gave up a goal on the first shot he saw, from Jarnkrok.
“Our goalies have bailed us out so many times this year, today we couldn’t bail them out,” said Islanders coach Barry Trotz, who added he couldn’t remember the last time a team of his let up eight goals in a single game.
Six of Nashville’s seven goals came during five-on-five play, the most the Islanders have allowed at even-strength since a 5-2 loss Oct. 11 at Carolina.
Despite the lopsided score, the Islanders finished with the advantage in nearly all facets of the game. They outshot the Predators 30-22 and won 52.3 percent of faceoffs. But the most glaring element of the loss was the lack of production in response to Nashville’s second-period surge.
“The score got away from us for sure, but we’ve got to just regroup here and move on,” Anders Lee said. “Put this one behind us. This doesn’t happen often, at least not at all recently for sure. We respond in Boston.”
The Predators found themselves on the board first after relatively even play in the opening minutes. A two-on-one opportunity with Scott Mayfield on the back-check allowed the Predators to maintain possession, resulting in a feed from Bonino to a cutting Smith, who one-timed the puck past Greiss at 4:39.
Shortly after, Anthony Beauvillier sent a hard-hit shot right at Pekka Rinne’s pads while in transition before the rebound popped out to the weakside of the net, where there were no Islanders to be found. After failing to capitalize on their first power play, on which they forced Rinne to make four stops, Ross Johnston nearly tied things up, but hit iron instead of twine.
It wasn’t until the second period that both teams looked to be gaining momentum, with the Predators nearly doubling their score after a long feed to Smith was stuffed by Greiss. But the Islanders tipped the ice at the start of the second, knotting the score at one after a two-on-one from Nelson and Lee resulted in a wrist shot from Nelson at 2:55.
Just 16 seconds later, Nashville’s Auston Watson was called for interference, allowing Brassard to give the Islanders their first lead of the night at 4:43. It was Brassard’s eighth goal of the season and his first since Nov. 27. Lee was sent to the box for hooking with 12 ½ minutes left in the second, but Cizikias recorded a short-hander off another two-on-one opportunity to put the Isles up 3-1.
The Islanders’ lead went just as swiftly as it came, leaving them noticeably rattled by their uncharacteristic performance. Trotz said that if his Islanders were to play this way in Boston on Thursday, they could very well let up another eight goals.
“Yeah we lost that momentum and we weren’t able to grab it back, I think that’s the frustrating part,” Lee said. “And then it obviously slipped away from us, just one of those nights. It’s frustrating, we’re going to sit on this for evening, wake up tomorrow and get back to work.”
