Islanders' five-game winning streak halted by Ducks in Anaheim

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Islanders again faced a two-goal deficit, an alarming fourth straight game since the Olympic break they have done so.

It’s obviously not a sustainable formula, even if the Islanders rallied in their previous three matches.

This time, the deficit grew. No comeback was forthcoming despite 43 shots, one fewer than their season high, as the Islanders opened a four-game road trip with a 5-1 loss to the Ducks on Wednesday night at Honda Center.

“It’s a tight game still, you have a lot of chances that we did not bury today,” Emil Heineman said. “It’s some details today that makes them come over us a little bit. When they get those bounces on turnovers, it feeds their game.”

The Islanders played without injured defenseman Ryan Pulock and the Ducks feasted off their transition rush game, particularly from their top line of Leo Carlsson between Cutter Gauthier and Chris Kreider. That trio combined for three goals and three assists.

“It’s a big loss, he’s a great player and a great leader, too,” said Matthew Schaefer, who tied for the team high with five shots but struggled somewhat defensively as the pairs constantly rotated.

“We can’t just say, ‘Oh, if we had Pully.’ We’ve got to find a way. I think that just wasn’t our best hockey. If we’re better in our systems, attacked them a little more and played in their defensive zone. At the end of the day, they just worked harder.”

The Islanders (35-22-5), who had a five-game winning streak snapped, missed a chance to move ahead of the idle Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Both teams have 75 points but the Penguins have played two fewer games.

David Rittich stopped 21 shots in his second straight start with the Islanders opening another back-to-back set of games. The Islanders allowed too much traffic near his crease in addition to the rush chances but he has still lost five of his last seven starts and allowed four goals in four of his last six starts.

Pulock suffered an upper-body injury in Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Panthers at UBS Arena, with Adam Boqvist drawing into the lineup. “You can see how important [Pulock] is to our team,” coach Patrick Roy said. “It’s always hard to lose one of your top defensemen. But, hey, we have to find ways to win. I thought we did enough to win the game.”

In general, the Ducks (34-24-3), who are 6-1-0 on their nine-game homestand and 21-9-1 on home ice this season, just played a more physical game than the Islanders, especially in the corners. That success complemented the play of goalie Ville Husso.

“Maybe we could have done a better job of getting in front and taking the goalie’s eyes away from the puck,” Roy said. “They played a good game.”

Rittich started well in the first period, making strong saves on Carlsson off the rush and a hard shot from Mason McTavish within the first 49 seconds. But the first 20 minutes ended poorly with the Ducks scoring three in a row despite ceding 17 shots to the Islanders.

Gauthier tied it at 1-1 with a power-play one-timer at 12:56, then gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead at 16:05 finishing a rush off Carlsson’s feed. Beckett Sennecke then got free at the left post to make it 3-1 at 18:40.

Anders Lee had opened the scoring on the power play by knocking in a rebound of defenseman Tony DeAngelo’s shot at 4:58, extending his goal streak to four games while his 82nd career man-advantage goal moved him past Derek King for the seventh most in Islanders’ history.

But the Islanders could not take advantage of three power plays in the second period and Ryan Poehling extended the lead to 4-1 at 2:11 of the third period as he put in his own rebound at the right post. Frank Vatrano added an empty-netter at 15:49 after Roy pulled Rittich for an extra skater at 11:26.

Notes & quotes: Goalie Ilya Sorokin will start Thursday night against the Kings . . . Wednesday marked Boqvist’s first game since Jan. 26 in Philadelphia as he was a healthy scratch the previous nine games.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.