ELMONT, N.Y. — The chances were there, even if there wasn’t sufficient traffic in front of the crease all the time.
But the Islanders, despite 49 shots on goal, couldn’t completely solve Kevin Lankinen. Just like they can’t figure out how to beat the Predators.
The Islanders lost their ninth straight to the Predators dating to 2017, 4-1, on Friday night at UBS Arena to open a three-game homestand.
Lankinen made 48 saves, stopping 22 shots in the third period. The Predators scored a power-play goal in each of the first two periods and Matt Duchene and Mikael Granlund added late empty-net goals to clinch it after the Islanders pulled within one.
The Islanders (15-10-0) have lost two straight and went nearly five periods between goals before Mathew Barzal’s power-play snipe from the left circle at 11:06 of the third period cut the Predators’ lead to 2-1. Prior to that, the Islanders had not scored since defenseman Noah Dobson’s power-play goal at 3:12 of the first period in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss road loss to the Flyers.
Barzal, who scored his third goal, tied a career-high with nine shots.
The Islanders, who got 19 saves from Ilya Sorokin, went 1 for 4 on the power play against the Predators with nine man-advantage shots.
Overall, they outchanced the Predators, 79-43 and, per Natural Stat Trick, the Islanders had 16 high-danger chances while yielding just five.
Yet the Islanders can just never seem to find a way to beat the Predators, now 11-1-1 in the last 13 games between the teams.
The Islanders also lost 5-4 in Nashville on Nov. 17 as the Predators took a 4-1 lead in the second period.
The Predators (12-9-2), who have won two straight, were coming off Thursday night’s 4-3 overtime road win over the Devils as Granlund scored the equalizer with 10 seconds left in regulation before Ryan Johansen won it.
The Predators took a 2-0 lead on defenseman Roman Josi’s 4-on-3 power-play goal at 8:22 of the second period, just eight seconds after defenseman Sebastian Aho was sent to the penalty box for holding Juuso Parssinen. Aho’s infraction came just seven seconds after Anders Lee negated an Islanders’ power play with an offensive-zone tripping call on defenseman Alexandre Carrier.
The Islanders nearly took the early lead at 10:12 of the first period as Anthony Beauvillier, behind the crease, found Lee just above the crease for a one-timer. The puck went off Lankinen’s arm and sputtered and stopped on the goal line, where the goalie got his left pad on it. A video review confirmed the puck did not fully cross the line, though the Islanders wound up with a power play when defenseman Jeremy Lauzon, trying to swipe the puck away from danger, shot it into the crowd.
Instead, it was the Predators who went ahead 1-0 at 14:18 of the first period as Matt Duchene’s cross-ice feed found Filip Forsberg open low in the left circle for a one-timer.
Lankinen was at his best in the second period as he stopped 18 shots. That included diving to his right to deny Barzal’s redirection at 10:36 and then stopping Barzal’s breakaway at 14:13. In between those saves, Lankinen also turned aside Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s wraparound try to the right post at 12:46.
He also smothered Barzal’s backhander as he got up the ice at 3:57 of the third period. Lankinen followed that with a good glove save on Lee from the right circle at 4:36. At 9:04, he turned aside Josh Bailey’s initial shot and defenseman Ryan McDonagh was bloodied as he blocked Alexander Romanov’s follow-up backhander.
