Islanders' winning streak ends in shutout loss to Ottawa Senators at UBS Arena

Patrick Roy was not angry.

He did not rant. Nor did he rave.

Instead, he spoke calmly, matter-of-factly. Which made his words more impactful, his assessment more harsh.

“We should have been more hungry. We should have more urgency than what we did,” Roy said after the Islanders’ season-high three-game winning streak (all on the road) came to an end Tuesday night at UBS Arena with a 2-0 loss to the Senators. It was their sixth shutout loss of the season. The Islanders dropped to 17-19-7 (41 points) overall and 7-10-2 on home ice this season.

“Sometimes you have to dig those ones,” Roy said. “For some reason we did not.”

What was particularly troublesome about this defeat was that the players after the morning skate spoke about making up ground and for lost time, as well as beginning to develop a home ice advantage at the $1.5 billion rink on the Queens and Nassau County border.

The match was the first of a season-long seven game homestand for the Islanders, who entered Tuesday night's game having won three straight but in last place in the Metropolitan Division due to the Flyers’ 4-3 come-from-behind regulation win over the Panthers Monday night in Philadelphia.

Moreover, the Flyers’ win also dropped the Islanders to 15th overall in the Eastern Conference–ahead of only perpetually rebuilding Buffalo. And most significantly, the Islanders came into the match trailing Boston by six points for the East’s first Wild Card spot and five points behind Columbus for the second and final berth.

In what was essentially a playoff game in mid-January against an Ottawa (22-18-3, 47 points) squad that had a four-point lead in the standings, the Islanders managed only 24 shots against Leevi Merilainen. Merilainen’s toughest stop was a blocker save on Brock Nelson with 7:20 left in the game.

“I don’t think we did enough,” Anders Lee said. “We didn’t create enough shots and high-danger opportunities [nearly enough] tonight.”

Despite going into the first intermission in a goalless deadlock, the Islanders had the better of play in the opening period. And they were the beneficiary of some good fortune as what would have been Adam Gaudette’s game-opening goal 1:42 into the contest was disallowed for goaltender interference. Gaudette drove to the net and collided with Marcus Hogberg, prompting Patrick Roy to challenge the call.

Hogberg stopped 23 of 24 shots.

The best scoring chance the Islanders had in the first was Casey Cizikas’ swipe at Anthony Duclair’s centering feed in front of Merilainen but the Ottawa goaltender used his blocker to deflect the puck out of play.

The Islanders outshot, 7-5, and out-attempted, 21-10, the Senators in the period.

The second period was essentially a carbon copy of the first, save for Gaudette’s deft redirection of Tyler Kleven’s point shot that gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 8:42.

“Shot from the point,” Roy said. “Tip in front.”

Prior to Gaudette’s goal, Hogberg made two difficult saves in a four-second span on Zack MacEwen and Matthew Highmore early in the period and later turned away Brady Tkachuk from in-close to keep the game scoreless.

Hogberg was not aided by a power play that came into the game in an 0-for-24 drought dating back to Dec. 10. The Islanders did not generate a shot on goal on their only power play  midway through the second which prompted boos from the announced 15,101 in attendance.

“We need to trust what we’re doing and we got to trust the guys that are out there,” Roy said. “We got some talent. I think sometimes it’s just simplifying things and throw pucks at the net.”

The negative performance review from the paying customers continued in the third as one fan yelled, “Score a goal!” and others amused themselves by starting a wave throughout the lower bowl.

  Artem Zub’s empty-net goal with 1:25 left completed the scoring.

Notes & quotes: Three hours before the game, the Islanders announced Marc Gatcomb had been recalled on an emergency basis from AHL Bridgeport. He replaced Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who was out due to an undisclosed illness. Gatcomb, who skated on the fourth line with Kyle MacLean and Matt Martin, finished with four hits, a blocked shot, and a takeaway in seven minutes of ice time . . . Rookie defenseman Isaiah George played for the first time since suffering a suspected concussion in the 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs on Jan. 2. He had a shot on goal in 13:53 . . . Alex Romanov (upper-body) missed his second straight game. He is considered day-to-day.