The New York Islanders lost 4-2 to the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday, marking their second regulation defeat during a seven-game road trip. The Flames built a 4-0 lead with goals from Yegor Sharangovich, Adam Klapka, Justin Kirkland, and Yan Kuznetsov before JG Pageau scored for the Islanders. Anders Lee later added his 300th career goal.
Islanders goaltender David Rittich made 15 saves on 19 shots in the loss, while Dustin Wolf stopped 28 of 30 shots for Calgary.
“It just wasn’t our best game,” said Matthew Schaefer, who recorded two assists. “We could hold on to the puck a little bit more, a little bit too many turnovers for our liking, but we’ll worry about the next one and learn from this.”
With this result, the Islanders have a record of 2-2-1 through five games on their current road trip.
“It’s a long road trip and we still have a chance to finish it on a high note,” Tony DeAngelo said. “[We’re] .500 right now and obviously want to be better than that and still have time to do it.”
Despite outshooting Calgary 30-19 and out-attempting them 75-52, New York was unable to convert early chances into goals. The team trailed after the first period despite holding an advantage in shots. A key moment came early in the second period when Jonathan Drouin was denied by Wolf; soon after, Klapka extended Calgary’s lead.
“We just didn’t bear down on our chances,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “The second goal kind of hurt us a little bit.”
After falling behind by four goals midway through the third period, Pageau scored his eighth goal of the season for New York. The Islanders increased pressure late in the game after pulling their goalie but were only able to add one more goal from Lee.
DeAngelo commented on turnovers: “We turned the puck over a little too much,” he said. “We only gave up seven shots in the second, just grade-A chances we gave up. Too many turnovers in transition, but beside that we had the puck the majority of the time.”
Rittich allowed four goals on ten shots before being replaced—his fourth such outing in twenty games this season as he continues searching for his first win as a visitor in Calgary.
Lee became just the fifth player in franchise history to reach 300 career goals and led all skaters with five shots on net and eleven total attempts. Roy noted that scoring from a sharp angle could help boost Lee’s confidence moving forward.
New York was credited with 29 missed shots and had another sixteen blocked by Calgary defenders.
“I thought we had a lot of opportunities going towards the net, not all of them got through,” Casey Cizikas said. “You have to credit a team when they’re willing to block like that.”
The Islanders will conclude their Western Canada road swing Monday night against Vancouver at 10 PM ET.
