ELMONT, New York – About five minutes into Tuesday night’s second period, it was clear this wasn’t going to be the launchpad toward a playoff berth the Kraken were hoping.
They were already down four goals by that point, their top point-getter had limped gingerly off the ice the prior period and the only skating they were doing was around in circles in their own zone. In other words, the Kraken got plenty of forewarning in this 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders about the challenges looming both near and long term.
For the Islanders, winners of four straight and seemingly energized by the trade for and long-term signing of star centerman Bo Horvat, finding energy in front of the UBS Arena home crowd wasn’t an issue. Ilya Sorokin stopped all 30 shots he faced for the shutout.
The Kraken’s loss of team points leader Andre Burakovsky, who did not return after his leg seemed to buckle as he attempted a first period zone entry, is obviously of concern. They’d seen offensive production slow considerably in the two weeks preceding the All-Star break, which coincided with a different Burakovsky injury suffered when he appeared to take a hand slash during a practice.
While he returned to score an overtime winner over the New Jersey Devils, he missed the three games after that.
And while that offense showed early spurts in this one, with Jaden Schwartz and Matty Beniers both back from injury and contributing to chances, they couldn’t finish those opportunities before the Islanders pulled away.
Samuel Bolduc opened the scoring just under eight minutes in, putting a puck through a screen and between the legs of goaltender Martin Jones for the first goal of his career. Then, with just 1:31 to play before intermission, the Kraken got caught scrambling in their own end and Jones never saw Simon Holmstrom take a centering pass and put the puck behind him before he could figure out who had it.
Things quickly went from bad to worse in the second period as Jean Gabriel Pageau swiped at a loose puck and Zach Parise redirected it by Jones just 3:38 in. And then, just 90 seconds after that, it would be onetime Seattle Thunderbirds captain Mat Barzal throwing a pass across to Horvat for a one-timed, first goal for his new team.
That was effectively the game despite the Kraken showing a late-second period burst on a power-play chance, only to be stonewalled by Sorokin.
The Kraken know they’ve got some tough work ahead on this trip, facing the tough Devils and then the New York Rangers — both among the league’s better, apparently playoff-bound teams — before heading to Philadelphia and then Winnipeg, Manitoba, to face a surprisingly strong Jets squad. Playing the Islanders, who were coming off a win the prior night, was supposed to be the game that might help them get this part of their season off to a flying start.
But instead, it was largely more of the same, disjointed play they’d shown right before the break.