How do you make a stinging third-period loss in the heat of a playoff race sting just that little bit more?
Well, watching two of Calgary’s four goals on Saturday get scored by Greenlawn native and childhood Islanders fan Matt Coronato would be one way.
Another would be watching Nazem Kadri win the game in overtime for Calgary after the Islanders let a pair of chances slip through their fingers on the other end of the ice.
That helped to snap a fledgling three-game Islanders winning streak, though they did come away with a point after the Flames handed them a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena that knocks back what’s been a resurgent week for the Isles in the playoff race.
Put plainly, this just wasn’t close enough to a 60-minute effort to produce two points.
There was the awful 36-second first shift of the game, with the Islanders handing the Flames the game’s first goal on a platter.
There were listless stretches of the second period and moments all game long where the Islanders struggled to gain and retain possession of the puck, with Calgary’s forecheck humming, and there was the immediate letdown shift after Kyle MacLean’s goal put the Isles in front late in the third.
In between there were some good moments, particularly for a bottom six that continues to stack strong performances on top of one another.
But it wasn’t quite enough against a Calgary team in a playoff race of its own, with just as much reason to play hungry as the Islanders.
The full extent of the damage had yet to become clear at the buzzer, with Montreal playing Colorado later in the evening.
But with the Rangers beating the Canucks, the Isles fell two points behind their cross-town rivals, albeit with two games in hand.
