ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Islanders again faced a two-goal deficit, an alarming fourth straight game since the Olympic break they have done so.
It’s obviously not a sustainable formula, even if the Islanders rallied in their previous three matches.
This time, the deficit grew. No comeback was forthcoming despite 43 shots as the Islanders opened a four-game road trip with a 5-1 loss to the Ducks on Wednesday night at Honda Center.
The Islanders (35-22-5), who had season-high five-game winning streak snapped, missed a chance to move ahead of the idle Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Both teams have 75 points but the Penguins have played two fewer games.
David Rittich stopped 21 shots in his second straight start with the Islanders opening another back-to-back set of games. The Islanders allowed too much traffic near his crease but he has still lost five of his last seven starts and allowed four goals in four of his last six starts.
The Islanders were missing Ryan Pulock, who suffered an upper-body injury in Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Panthers at UBS Arena, with Scott Mayfield starting in Pulock’s spot on the top pair with Matthew Schaefer while defenseman Adam Boqvist drew into the lineup on a third pair with Carson Soucy.
But coach Patrick Roy started rotating his pairs quickly in the first period as Pulock’s physicality and defensive presence were noticeably missed.
And, in general, the Ducks (34-24-3), who are 6-1-0 on their nine-game homestand and 21-9-1 on home ice this season, just played a more physical game than the Islanders, especially in the corners. That success complemented the 42 saves they got from Ville Husso.
Rittich started well in the first period, making strong saves on Leo Carlsson off the rush and a hard shot from Mason McTavish within the first 49 seconds. But the first 20 minutes ended poorly with the Ducks scoring three in a row despite ceding 17 shots to the Islanders.
Cutter Gauthier tied it at 1-1 with a power-play one-timer at 12:56, then gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead at 16:05 finishing a rush off Carlsson’s feed. Beckett Sennecke then got free at the left post to make it 3-1 at 18:40.
Anders Lee had opened the scoring on the power play by knocking in a rebound of defenseman Tony DeAngelo’s shot at 4:58, extending his goal streak to four games while his 82nd career man-advantage goal moved him past Derek King for the seventh most in Islanders’ history.
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But the Islanders could not take advantage of three power plays in the second period and Ryan Poehling extended the lead to 4-1 at 2:11 of the third period as he put in his own rebound at the right post. Frank Vatrano added an empty-netter at 15:49 after Roy pulled Rittich for an extra skater at 11:26.
Notes & quotes: Goalie Ilya Sorokin will start Thursday night against the Kings . . . Wednesday marked Boqvist’s first game since Jan. 26 in Philadelphia as he was a healthy scratch the previous nine games . . . Forwards Anthony Duclair and Max Shabanov, two candidates to be moved before the NHL trade deadline on Friday if the Islanders can find any takers, were the healthy scratches.
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.