Elmont, N.Y. – You suspect Saturday’s Red Wings’ game might be a template of many others in these final 20 games of the regular season.
Play hard, stay close, tease a victory, but ultimately a tough loss.
The New York Islanders scored two goals in 2 minutes, 28 seconds early in the third period to take the lead in a 4-1 victory over the Red Wings.
The Islanders’ Zach Parise (16th, 2:11) and Anders Lee (23rd, 4:39) erased a 1-0 Wings lead, finally getting pucks past goaltender Magnus Hellberg. Noah Dobson added a power-play goal at 15:41 of third period, and Lee added his second goal of the afternoon at 17:22 to complete the third-period explosion.
Parise put back a rebound of Sebastian Aho’s drive off an Islanders rush. Lee got his stick on a shot by Hudson Fasching in the slot, frustrating Hellberg.
Dylan Larkin (power play) gave the Wings a 1-0 lead with his 23rd goal at 18:59 of the second period. Moritz Seider found Larkin open near the post, Larkin wheeled, and flipped a shot past goaltender Ilya Sorokin.
BOX SCORE: Islanders 4, Red Wings 1
The Wings (28-25-9, 65 points) fell seven points behind the Islanders (32-25-8, 72 points) in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
The steadiness of Hellberg, and the Islanders’ own offensive frustrations looked to be a good opportunity for the Wings to swipe a victory in the Saturday matinee.
But the two quick third-period goals changed the complexion of the game.
Hellberg, starting in place of the injured Ville Husso, kept the Wings close early, including 16 in the first period as the Islanders came out strongly. Hellberg had 31 saves for the day.
The Wings were playing their first game without Tyler Bertuzzi (Boston), Filip Hronek (Vancouver), Jakub Vrana (St. Louis) and Oskar Sundqvist (Minnesota), all of whom were traded before Friday’s trade deadline.
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan