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The New York Islanders came up short in the second game of their road trip yesterday, falling 5-4 to the Nashville Predators.
The Predators opened the scoring only about a minute into the game, with Filip Forsberg burying a rebound after a flurry of chances in front. However, New York came right back under two minutes later, when Adam Pelech’s point shot deflected off Dante Fabbro’s stick and through Juuse Saros, tying the game.
Nashville took the lead back a little later though, with Cole Smith finding Ryan Johansen in front, who deflected the puck past Sorokin. Then only a minute after re-taking the lead, Nino Niederreiter just threw a puck on net and it went off Noah Dobson’s skate and in, putting Nashville up by two.
The Predators extended their lead once again about five minutes into the second period, with Juuso Parssinen getting to a rebound and beating Sorokin. After Nashville controlled a lot of the first half of the period though, the Islanders did start to generate some chances and after the team hit a couple posts, Cal Clutterbuck managed to tip in Adam Pelech’s point shot (that also redirected off Matt Martin), cutting it to a 4-2 lead through 40 minutes.
The Islanders then made things interesting early in the third period, with Kyle Palmieri burying a loose puck that popped out front under five minutes into the frame. New York had a power play soon after as well but when they couldn’t capitalize, the Predators made it a 5-3 game on a man advantage of their own, with Mikael Granlund’s shot deflecting in off Parssinen. While Jean-Gabriel Pageau did score with a little over four minutes to go, the Predators hung on for a 5-4 win.
While the Islanders were dominated in the first half of the game, they certainly turned the tables in the back half. They completely outplayed Nashville in the third period in particular, outshooting the Predators 16-3.
Again though, the Islanders can’t bank on consistently being able to come back from multi-goal deficits, after a few good comebacks this season. Better starts are important and we’ve rarely seen the Islanders put together a full sixty minutes.
The Islanders also haven’t necessarily been defending at the level we’ve seen over the last few years. Last night in particular, the Islanders’ defense had a rough time trying to tie up forwards in front, allowing a lot of deflections and second chances.
The Islanders will be back in action tomorrow, as they continue their road trip against the Dallas Stars.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM NOVEMBER
Islanders beat Blackhawks, extend winning streak to four games
Islanders beat Blues for fifth win in a row
Islanders’ five-game winning streak ends with shutout loss to Red Wings
Islanders battle back to defeat Flames in overtime
Islanders stage another third period comeback to beat Rangers
Islanders shut out by Coyotes at home
Islanders pick up overtime win against Blue Jackets
Islanders kick off road trip with win over Senators 
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