RECAP: Red Wings shut out by Islanders, 5-0

DETROIT -- Unable to stretch their point streak to five straight games, the Detroit Red Wings were left feeling frustrated at their performance in a 5-0 shutout loss to the New York Islanders at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night.

“We didn’t have it,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “I thought the game was hard. They were winning races, and we weren’t. They were above us, and we just didn’t grind through that. Then, we gave up goals where it was a lack of execution… Another night where I felt we left Gibby out to dry.”

Goalie John Gibson made 22 saves for the Red Wings (12-8-1; 25 points), who were blanked for just the second time this season but remain atop the Atlantic Division. Stopping all 29 shots he faced, netminder Ilya Sorokin helped the Islanders (12-7-2; 26 points) finish 6-1-0 on their seven-game road trip.

“Very disappointing,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “We had a lot of momentum coming into the game, and we were outexecuted. The puck was foreign to us. Anything that we did get away clean, we seemed to bobble it or double clutch it. The scoring opportunities that we did have, we did nothing with. We gave up two goals on face-off coverages. That epitomizes the night, really.”

The Red Wings trailed 2-0 at the end of the first period, with the Islanders’ goals coming from Calum Ritchie --- a snap shot from the middle of the left face-off circle ---at 6:46 and Max Shabanov --- also a snap shot, his from the high slot directly off an offensive-zone draw won by Ritchie --- at 14:54.

“They transition a lot better than they have in the past,” J.T. Compher said. “They have some guys playing really good hockey. [Matthew Schaefer] has come in and stepped in really well. Just throughout their lineup, they check well and it leads to chances.”

New York lit the lamp twice more before the six-minute mark of the second period, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Captain Mathew Barzal snapped a shot from the high slot that deflected off Marco Kasper at 3:19, then Bo Horvat one-timed a feed from Ryan Pulock after winning a face-off in the left circle at 5:04.

“They’re a good face-off team,” Larkin said. ‘They have really good centermen, where they dig in and made plays off of it. It’s not plays that we haven’t seen. We see those plays every night.”

At 6:52 of the third period, Shabanov wrapped up the scoring and widened the Islanders’ advantage to 5-0 with his second goal of the night.

Mistakes Detroit made and didn’t clean up against New York, Compher pointed out, ultimately led to Thursday’s final score.

“Gibby still had to come up with some big saves throughout the game to keep it at where it was at,” Compher said. “I thought we didn’t give ourselves a chance to compete for two points tonight. You can play really good in this League and not win. We didn’t even give ourselves a chance to do that tonight.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will look to conclude their three-game homestand on a high note when the Columbus Blue Jackets drop by Little Caesars Arena on Saturday afternoon.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on how the players can elevate their game on a night when things feel flat

“B-game, I’d like to see the A-game. I don’t really want to talk about the B-game. If it’s not going well, you got to check and prevent.”

Larkin on the play of New York’s fourth line

“Their whole team had a good night. Like I said, we didn’t win races and we were slow. Not even a credit to them, really. They played their game, but we didn’t make it hard on them at all.”

Larkin on what it will take to put forth a more consistent game night in and night out

“We’ve shown it in pieces and when we’ve played well. We’re going to be a team that has to check. To check, you have to have your legs. With this schedule, it’s going to be hard but our B-game and C-game have to be a lot better than that.”

Compher on Detroit’s recent play in front of Gibson

“It’s inconsistency right now. The last few games, we’re playing great 60-minute hockey. It’s really hard to play well for 60 minutes. Todd challenged us to do that after a game like this. There’s just no room to go up and down, and back and forth.”