CALGARY, Alberta — It was another loss after another sluggish first period on a lost road trip highlighted by the surprising loss of Mathew Barzal, their top playmaker.
Bad night. Bad week for the Islanders.
Barzal was a late scratch with a lower-body injury and the Islanders lost to the Flames, 4-1, on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena to conclude a 1-3-0 western trip.
A less-than-sharp Semyon Varlamov made 17 saves in his first start for the Islanders (22-17-2) since injuring his groin on Dec. 17. Jacob Markstrom stopped 24 shots, including two second-period breakaways, for the Flames (19-14-7).
Barzal was listed as day to day after participating in pregame warm-ups. Casey Cizikas took his spot centering Anders Lee and Josh Bailey. Rookie Aatu Raty, headed to his first healthy scratch, instead centered a fourth line with Ross Johnston and Matt Martin.
The injury comes at an incredibly inopportune time with Barzal playing his best hockey of the season. He has a career-high five-game goal streak with six goals and two assists in that span.
The Islanders went 4 for 4 on the road trip in playing lousy first periods, spotting the Flames a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes despite yielding just six shots. Coach Lane Lambert and some of the Islanders players said they were searching for answers after Thursday’s clunker in Edmonton when they were outshot 18-4 and outscored 2-0.
Obviously there wasn’t enough time to figure it out on back-to-back nights.
Varlamov was never allowed to settle into the game after his long layoff and Milan Lucic made it 1-0 at 4:36 on a rising blast from the right circle. Varlamov showed his rust as Blake Coleman got his own rebound to the forehand and beat him on a sharp-angle shot from the goalie’s right at 6:05. Nazem Kadri connected from an even sharper angle, also to Varlamov’s right, as the Flames took a 4-1 lead at 6:59 of the third period.
Defenseman Nikita Zadorov had snaked a shot from the blue line through traffic to push it to 3-0 at 14:21 of the first period.
Zach Parise then beat Markstrom to the far post over his left shoulder to pull the Islanders within 3-1 with 59.2 seconds left in the first period.
But Markstrom kept the Islanders from coming closer in the second, denying Cizikas’ breakaway after he exited the penalty box at 10:06, then turning aside Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s shorthanded breakaway 40 seconds later.
