ELMONT, NY — The New York Islanders began their seven-game home stand on the wrong foot, losing 2-0 to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at UBS Arena to snap a season-long three-game win streak.
With it, they squandered their chance to move back to NHL .500 (17-19-7) for the first time since Dec. 12.
“They played well,” Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson said. “They were pretty stingy. WE just have to, when things are tight, keep it simple, get pucks, bodies through to the net. We didn’t do a good enough job of that.”
After he had a goal disallowed for goalie interference 2:42 into the game, Ottawa’s Adam Gaudette scored the game’s opening goal 8:42 into the second period when he redirected Adam Kleven’s point shot past Marcus Hogberg.
Artem Zub added an empty-netter for the Senators with 1:24 left in regulation to put the game away.
Hogberg, the Islanders’ temporary backup goalie, was strong once again in relief of an ill Ilya Sorokin, stopping 23 shots in the loss. He picked up his first win in four years in Saturday’s win over Utah Hockey Club.
“He was outstanding,” Roy said of his goaltender. “…He made some really good saves. I really feel like he gave us a chance at the end to be in that game. I was very happy about him. He should be proud of himself.”
He was outdueled by Senators netminder Leevi Merlianen, who stopped all 24 Islanders shots he faced to pick up the second shutout of his career, which have come in his last three games.
“We should’ve been more around the net,” Roy said. “We talk about this every day.”
New York’s sputtering power play went 0-for-1 on the night, continuing a concerning drought that dates back to Dec. 8.
“We didn’t have a shot on net [during the power play],” Roy said. “That’s not what we want. We want pucks at the net. The guys know that… We need to trust what we’re doing and we need to trust the guys that are there.”
Veteran center Jean-Gabriel Pageau was also a scratch due to the sick bug that continues to sweep through the Islanders’ locker room. It forced the team to emergency recall forward Marc Gatcomb to make his NHL debut on Tuesday night. He had four hits and one face-off win in seven minutes of play.
“I thought he played well,” Roy said of Gatcomb. “He did a really nice job. He was physical. A good first game.”
