ELMONT, NY — Controlling play is all fine and dandy, but the New York Islanders were unable to do anything with it on Tuesday night at UBS Arena as they were shutout by Alex Lyon and the Detroit Red Wings 1-0.
The Islanders outshot the Red Wings 29-10 on the night, but Lyon turned away everything thrown his way while Patrick Kane provided the game’s lone goal midway through the first period.
“That’s not the result we wanted,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “At the end of the night, it was 29-10 shots on net… We dominated every department of the game. The only thing I wish we could’ve done better was get in front of the net for the screens and keep making the goalie not seeing the shots.”
Through six games this season, the Islanders (2-2-2) have already been shutout three times. It was also the fewest shots the Red Wings recorded in a win since 1959.
Detroit’s first shot of the game found the back of the net 8:54 into the first period. Kane snapped a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle over the glove hand of Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin to give the visitors a lead.
The assist came from Vladimir Tarasenko, who streaked down the left wing and turned behind the net before dropping the pass behind him to Kane in the circle.
“It was just a coverage [breakdown],” Roy said. “He made a great play to sneak behind our guys. Before the game, we talked about how they love to hit the second wave and come in late and when they go behind the net, they attack the same side. It was pretty much what they did. They did a great job on that one. It was a perfect shot because Ilya’s glove was very close to making that save, regardless.”
It was one of just three shots from Detroit in the first period — the final two came in the final two minutes of the stanza.
Lyon kept the Islanders off the board through the second — another period in which New York handily outshot Detroit 13-5 — particularly through two highlight-reel saves to rob what appeared to be certain goals.
Five minutes into the second, he made a lunging glove save on Mathew Barzal, who was wide-open at the right post from point-blank range. Midway through the frame, Lyon stacked his pad to ensure Anders Lee could not stuff a power-play chance from close range home.
Brock Nelson hit the post moments later.
“I thought the first two periods we had some looks, a couple rebounds, things like that,” forward Kyle Palmieri said. “Sometimes they find their way, sometimes they don’t.”
The Islanders pulled Sorokin with 2:49 to go in regulation after a timeout, but to no avail.
