Islanders' five-game home winning streak snapped by Canucks in sloppy performance

There was nothing to excuse this one.

The Islanders had fresh legs with two days between games and a rare day of practice to prepare. They had an early two-man advantage that could have kick-started their game but instead propelled the Canucks to three first-period goals and a 4-1 victory on Friday night at UBS Arena.

Vancouver entered the game last in the Western Conference.

“We didn’t have a good night,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “Sometimes you’re going to have that, but you’ve got to realize maybe change your game. Simplify things, and we weren’t able to adjust to that tonight. When you get a kill on a five-on-three, that’s momentum. We had a great opportunity there early in the game to dictate the way the game went.”

Yet the biggest takeaway from a turnover-prone loss in which the Islanders (19-13-3) were woefully deficient in generating rebound chances and connecting on passes is that they are struggling to overcome the absence of injured leading scorer Bo Horvat both five-on-five and on the power play. That’s particularly true when goalie Ilya Sorokin (26 saves) is not at his upper-most “A’’ game.

The Islanders have lost two straight and had a five-game home winning streak snapped. They went 0-for-4 on the power play and have scored only five goals in three games without Horvat. He will not travel to Buffalo for Saturday’s game against the Sabres, who are tied for the Eastern Conference cellar.

The Islanders beat the visiting Lightning, 3-2, in a shootout in their first game without Horvat — who has a team-high 19 goals and 31 points in 32 games — but managed only 17 shots Friday and were outshot 17-1 in the second period.

“It’s hard,” fourth-liner Marc Gatcomb said. “When you lose a player of that caliber, it’s tough to replace. He was so good for us when he was healthy. We’re all just hoping to get him back, but his recovery is the most important thing. It gives other guys opportunities. We just need to get back to being simple. Sometimes goals aren’t the prettiest.”

Kiefer Sherwood completed his third career hat trick with an empty-netter and Thatcher Demko made 22 saves for the Canucks (14-17-3), who swept the three metropolitan-area teams to start a five-game road trip. Anders Lee spoiled Demko’s shutout bid with a six-on-five goal at 14:55 of the third period after Sorokin was pulled for an extra skater.

“I’d like to help them a little more on our offense,” said coach Patrick Roy, adding he could show some “positive clips” of how the Islanders are most effective. “I have some part to play in this. I feel like we’re looking for a perfect play too much. Some nights when we don’t have the same execution, you’ve got to find a different way to score goals. We were still trying those perfect plays.”

In other words, the Islanders spent way too much time against the Canucks trying to play east-west when Roy wants them to go north-south.

“We had a lot of guys who didn’t have a great night,” he said. “It’s probably one of our worst games at home all year.”

The Islanders spent the first 20 minutes treating the puck like an unwanted holiday fruitcake. They fell behind 3-0 after mustering only two shots through three minutes, two seconds of consecutive power-play time, including only one shot skating five-on-three for 59 seconds.

“We start the game on a five-on-three and the kill gave them momentum and they put three in quick,” defenseman Scott Mayfield said. “Some puck bounces, some mistakes. We just weren’t good enough to start with.”

David Kampf, with his first point in 14 games this season, opened the scoring at 8:57 of the first period after defenseman Adam Boqvist, in the Islanders’ lineup after being a healthy scratch the previous five games and nine of the previous 10, turned the puck over behind his crease.

Sherwood took the puck from No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer at the Islanders’ blue line and made it 2-0 at 10:35. Sherwood’s power-play one-timer from the slot pushed it to 3-0 at 15:47.

Notes & quotes: Horvat (left leg/ankle) skated on his own . . . Mathew Barzal missed his second straight morning skate for maintenance but extended his point streak to six games with a secondary assist . . . Laurel Hollow’s Marshall Warren was a healthy scratch after the defenseman was recalled from AHL Bridgeport on Thursday . . . The Islanders dropped to 6-1-0 against the Pacific Division.

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.