TAKEAWAYS
– The return home got off on the wrong foot, as Schenn scored on St. Louis’ first shot of the game, beating Sorokin high blocker side on an odd-man rush 42 seconds in. That was one of the “flat” moments the Islanders spoke about postgame, an aftereffect of returning home from a lengthy trip.
“The first goal probably hurt us a bit, and we just couldn’t get that one back till the end,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “[The first game back after a trip] are always tougher games and I guess the fact that we were trailing early on probably hurt us a little bit as well. We didn’t have the same jump that we had, maybe on the on the road, which is normal.”
– Sorokin settled into the game as it wore on, notably robbing Dalibor Dvorsky on a backdoor play on a Blues power play to keep it 1-0. The Blues opened up a 2-0 lead with 2:09 to play in the second period, as Suter got inside position on Tony DeAngelo in front of the Islanders net and was the first to a Dylan Holloway rebound. The Islanders limited the shots against Sorokin and he was good enough to keep the Isles in it until the end.
– There wasn’t a lot out there for either team on Saturday, as both teams clogged shooting lanes at five-on-five. The Islanders finished the game with 31 shots – but had 14 blocked by the Blues and another 16 that missed the net – and the 31 shots on goal total was buoyed by 12 in the third period.
“They did a pretty good job today of collapsing,” Pulock said. “I thought there was maybe a few times where we had pucks at the point right away, where maybe we had some guys alone in front that we weren’t really able to get them a puck.