Islanders survive but may have lost their starting goalie

For a long time, things were constantly breaking in the Islanders’ favor.

No more. Not for a while now.

The team is going through just about its toughest stretch of adversity, needing a shootout to beat the woebegone Senators, 5-4, on Tuesday night at a quiet Coliseum. It could have cost them at least some time without their starting goalie, Robin Lehner, who was barreled over by Brady Tkachuk late in the third period on a controversial game-tying goal that sent Lehner to the locker room for a presumed run through the concussion protocol.

He joins an injured list of Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck, while a few other forwards have had to battle their way through an uncomfortable stomach bug the past few days.

This home-and-home with the worst team in the league seemed to come at a perfect time. But the Islanders (38-21-7) failed to win in regulation or overtime, keeping them behind the idle Capitals atop the Metropolitan Division despite being tied in points.

“You know, tonight, the way things have been going, we found a way to get two points,” captain Anders Lee said. “It was ugly, it was a shootout, but it’s fine.”

It would have been a lot worse if Jordan Eberle and Mat Barzal didn’t beat goalie Craig Anderson in the skills competition, and Thomas Greiss didn’t stop Thomas Chabot and Bobby Ryan after he came in relief of Lehner. But there is no getting around the fact the Senators (23-38-6) should not have been around at that point, with the Isles holding leads of 3-1 and 4-2, the latter with just over 12 minutes to play in regulation.

“Jeez, the way we were playing, we kind of deserved it, to be honest,” Lee said. “Can’t have third periods like that, especially with a two-goal lead.”

After the Islanders outshot the Senators, 26-8, in the middle frame, their two-goal lead seemed pretty comfortable. But a Ryan tip-in at 7:38 of the third made it 4-3, and then came the hard-edged Tkachuk storming towards the net, with Brock Nelson out of position behind him, trying to shove him behind.

Tkachuk slammed into Lehner while Jean-Gabriel Pageau swept the puck into the gaping net. It was originally called a goal on the ice, then called no-goal, and then challenged by new Ottawa coach Marc Crawford. Upon video review, it was declared that “Nelson caused Tkachuk to contact Lehner before the puck crossed the goal line,” according to the league release. So it was a tie game, and on to overtime.

“My hands are on him, no doubt, but I don’t think I gave him a hard shove into him,” Nelson said. “To start it off, I think he was already there. But they saw something different. That’s the way it goes.”

It only goes like that because the Islanders could never take control of a game that should have come a lot easier. Goals by Nelson, Devon Toews and Lee sandwiched one from Brian Gibbons for a 3-1 lead, but former Ranger Oscar Lindberg got to the front of the net easily to bat one in and make it 3-2 at 6:32 of the second.

Then the pugilistic Ross Johnston scored his first goal of the season off his chest at 10:02 of the second, making it 4-2. And still, coming out in the third, the momentum was nonexistent.

“We have to clean up some stuff in our game, there’s no question,” coach Barry Trotz said. “Third period, it’s the details.”

The Islanders are now 3-4-1 in their last eight, and that nice lofty perch atop the division that helped persuade team president Lou Lamoriello not to make any moves before the Feb. 25 trade deadline seems like it was from a different time. They are hardly in a free fall, but there is concern growing with each disappointing performance.

And expectations will stay with them in Ottawa on Thursday, and the rest of the way.

“You have to elevate at this time of year,” Nelson said. “It’s not going to be easy.”