Islanders blow another two-goal lead, fall to Bruins

BOSTON – The Islanders can take a lead. They just can’t keep a lead. And, to paraphrase noted philosopher Jerry Seinfeld, that’s really the most important part of taking a lead.

“I’ll say this, a two-nothing lead in this game now, that’s nothing,” coach Patrick Roy said.

But the Islanders were completely complicit in letting a second straight game slip away to start this four-game road trip after scoring the first two goals again. They stopped getting pucks deep for too long a period. They started taking penalties. Their special teams didn’t produce.

It added to a 5-2 loss on Tuesday night at TD Garden to the struggling Bruins after Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss in Philadelphia. Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo (33 saves) was a difference maker, stopping the last 32 shots he faced over 55 minutes, including 12 on the Islanders’ 0-for-5 power play that included a four-minute advantage to end the second period and start the third.

“It’s early, but you can’t let that linger because it gets late fast,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said as the Islanders (4-4-1) had a 4-0-1 streak snapped. “I think there’s been good things in the last couple of games. Tonight, I thought there were some really good things. Then there’s little areas we need to clean up that are costing us. This group in here is confident and we know we’re fine, but we have to look at it and talk about it and figure it out.”

Ilya Sorokin (17 saves) allowed four goals for the fifth time in seven starts. The Bruins (5-7-0), who entered the match in a 1-7-0 skid, went 2-for-4 on the power play.

“We fell asleep for half a period and it cost us the game,” said Bo Horvat, who opened the scoring off the rush on the Islanders’ first shot at 1:08 of the first period before Smithtown’s Kyle Palmieri made it 2-0 off Mathew Barzal’s deft feed at 4:52. “Our special teams weren’t good enough.”

“I’m not saying we changed our game, but the two penalties at the start of the second gave them some life and some momentum, especially when they scored that power-play goal,” Roy said.

Anders Lee tripped Long Beach’s Charlie McAvoy 38 seconds into the second period – the Islanders killed it off – and Laurel Hollow’s Marshall Warren was whistled for his first NHL penalty in his second career game as he tripped Mark Kostelic at 3:18.

That led to Elias Lindholm’s power-play goal at 3:57 to halve the Islanders’ lead. David Pastrnak tied it at 6:49 and Mikey Eyssimont got to the crease for the winner at 7:48. Morgan Geekie, with his sixth goal in five games, added a second power-play goal at 5:48 of the third period.

“That second period was on us,” Kyle MacLean said. “We knew they were going to make a push and we didn’t respond to that. They buried a couple on their special teams and that ended up being the difference tonight.”

The Bruins held an 11-1 shot advantage at one point in the second period.

This coming off Monday night’s 7-2 loss in Ottawa, after which rookie coach Marco Sturm criticized his team for not buying in.

Still, Tuesday’s match was a special one for Warren, who logged 12:56, as it marked the first time his father, Lewis, was able to see him play for the Islanders in person. He missed Saturday’s match to be with Marshall Warren’s grandfather, who remains hospitalized.

“My dad’s coming up so I’m pumped for that and it’s his birthday today, too,” said Warren, who grew up an Islanders’ fan. “It’s kind of weird how God works. I’m really pumped to see him after the game and just give him a hug. I miss him.”

Notes & quotes: Defenseman Alexander Romanov (upper body/injured reserve) participated in the morning skate but Roy said there was no update on his timeline to return. Romanov missed his fifth game and is eligible to be activated. “We’ll see how he feels when he gets more contact,” Roy said. “As of now, nothing else to add.”…Rookie forward Max Shabanov (upper body) missed his third game and is not traveling with the team…Defenseman Adam Boqvist was the healthy scratch.

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.