Islanders winning streak ends at five in shootout loss to Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- The New York Islanders' five-game winning streak ended with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Tuesday.

Valtteri Filppula and Mathew Barzal scored for New York (29-15-5), which won 15 of its previous 18 games. Robin Lehner made 38 saves.
"We wanted to have a little bit of a better game," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "Our first period]*
Cam Ward made 34 saves through overtime and two in the shootout for Chicago (18-24-9). Dylan Strome and Jonathan Toews scored power-play goals.
"We're just gaining confidence," Strome said of the Blackhawks power play. "When [Erik Gustafsson] and I came on, I think the power play was doing alright and we just tried to keep it simple for the first couple games and get our confidence and kind of feel each other out.
"Obviously you want the puck in [Kane's] hands, he makes a lot of plays, [Alex DeBrincat's] a shooter and [Gustafsson] kind of does both."

The Blackhawks, who ended a streak of allowing four goals in six straight, have won two in a row.
"We've shown we have the ability to play well against a really tough opposition," Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said. "So just finding that consistency night in and night out. I think sometimes it's circumstance who you end up playing against, who you end up beating, but tonight was a good effort."
Filppula gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the first period when he won a face-off in the offensive zone and shot the puck between Ward's pads with a backhand.

Strome made it 1-1 at 6:05 of the second period during a two-man advantage from below the right face-off circle after Islanders forwards Matt Martin (roughing) and Cal Clutterbuck (slashing) took simultaneous penalties at 4:46.
"They have a good power play," Barzal said. "Calls are unfortunate. I thought we played hard; it's unfortunate. The PK's done a great job the last 20 games. Five-on-3 is tough; they have some of the most skilled guys in the world. Our PKers work hard every night, block shots, put their bodies on the line. Skill players are going to get chances."
Barzal made it 2-1 at 7:33 of the second on a breakaway.
Toews tied it 2-2 with 22 seconds remaining in the second period on a power play. It was his 22nd goal of the season.

Chicago outshot New York 18-7 in the second.
"The second period was absolutely one of our worst periods in a long time," Trotz said.
Toews and Kane scored in the first two rounds of the shootout for Chicago. Ward made saves against Josh Bailey and Barzal.
"We had our chances, for sure," Islanders captain Anders Lee said. "You take one (point) on the road. Obviously you always want to get two, but in a situation like this in a shootout loss, it is what it is."

They said it

"They were really good today. They're world-class players, they always have been. We got one point tonight. Tough to lose in a shootout, but it is what it is. We're going into the break, we've played some really good hockey lately. It was a little bit of an off night, but we still found a way to get a point. We had some chances in OT. It was good." -- Islanders goalie Robin Lehner
"It's a good feeling. That team's playing well. They play really good defensively, they don't give up much and they've got some lines that can create in their own zone. We had to work for it tonight." -- Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews

Need to know

Strome's goal ended the Islanders' shutout streak at 158:58. It was Lehner's second loss in his past 13 games. … Barzal has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in his past 16 games. … Kane has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in a nine-game point streak. He has 899 points in 872 games and could become the fifth U.S.-born player in NHL history to reach 900 prior to his 900th game. … Toews has 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in his past 13 games. … Strome has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past three games.

What's next

Islanders: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 1 (Nassau Coliseum; 7 p.m. ET; MSG+, SUN, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: At Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 1 (7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, MSG-B, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)