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The New York Islanders came up short in their game against the Vegas Golden Knights today, losing 4-3 in a shootout.
Kyle Palmieri was out for the Islanders with a lower-body injury, while it was also announced before the game that both Matt Martin and Robin Salo had joined Mathew Barzal in COVID Protocol.
After a pretty slow start to the game, Ilya Sorokin put a rebound in a pretty brutal spot and Jonathan Marchessault capitalized to open the scoring, giving Vegas an early lead. However, the Islanders would tie the game on a power play, as Brock Nelson threw a puck on net and it went in off Brayden McNabb’s skate, and the score would remain 1-1 heading into the first intermission.
The Islanders were able to sustain a lot of pressure through the first half of the second period but weren’t able to capitalize. The game evened out a bit as the frame went on and we did get a fight between Kieffer Bellows and Max Pacioretty, but neither team was able to take the lead.
The Golden Knights converted on a power play fairly early in the third period as Shea Theodore put a one-timer through traffic which found its way in, giving Vegas a 2-1 lead. However, the Islanders would tie the game later on, with Kieffer Bellows was able to sneak a shot through Robin Lehner on a rush.
It was a wild last few minutes, as it looked like the Islanders had taken the lead off a goal from Cal Clutterbuck with just over three minutes remaining, but Vegas challenged and it was called offside, so the score remained 2-2. Just a minute later though, the Islanders would take the lead for real, as Oliver Wahlstrom put a great pass out front to Jean-Gabriel Pageau and he buried the puck into the open net.
With under a minute to go, however, Vegas pulled the goalie and Shea Theodore scored off another one-timer to tie the game at 3-3. From there, we went to overtime and we got a pretty exciting extra frame, with the teams trading rushes, Despite the Islanders outshooting the Golden Knights 7-1, neither team was able to win it, so we headed to a shootout.
After Shea Theodore scored, the next three shooters couldn’t convert and Nicolas Roy made a great move to beat Ilya Sorokin and secure a victory for Vegas.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad effort from the Islanders, but they can’t continue to throw away extra points. They were up in the final minute and let their lead slip away – those are the extra points that the team needs right now.
It was also just announced that upcoming cross-border games have been postponed, meaning the Islanders won’t face the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow as scheduled and their next game will instead come on Thursday against the Washington Capitals.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM DECEMBER
Islanders’ losing streak reaches 11 games
Islanders finally snap losing streak with win over Senators
Islanders place Anatolii Golyshev on waivers to terminate contract
Islanders allow late goal in loss to Predators, remain winless at UBS Arena
Islanders finally pick up first win at UBS Arena, beat Devils 4-2
Islanders fail to build momentum, lose 2-1 to Red Wings
Islanders pick up win over Bruins 
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