Islanders fail to gain ground, lose to Canucks

At least no controversial goalie interference calls went against them.

But the Islanders missed their opportunity to leapfrog into a playoff spot because they missed their opportunities and Ilya Sorokin had a rare off-night. So a 5-2 loss to the Canucks on Wednesday night at UBS Arena to conclude a four-game homestand meant they could not overtake the Canadiens for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. They still have not been in a playoff position since Nov. 19.

The Islanders (32-29-10), now in a 0-1-2 slide, scored shorthanded and skating four-on-four but could not convert numerous five-on-five chances despite good looks and were 0-for-2 on the power play. They remain one point back of the final playoff position. The Islanders lost a 4-3 shootout to the Blue Jackets on Monday after Kyle Palmieri’s apparent winner was waved off in the waning seconds.

Sorokin allowed four goals on 19 shots on Wednesday before being pulled at 1:05 of the third period while Thatcher Demko stopped 26 shots for the Canucks (34-26-12).

Teddy Blueger beat Sorokin on an unscreened shot to give the Canucks a 4-2 lead at 1:05 of the third period, their third straight goal and the second straight shaky one Sorokin allowed.

The Canucks ended a see-saw second period with a 3-2 lead as defenseman Derek Forbort snuck one under Sorokin’s left arm — a savable shot  with 22.9 seconds remaining. Former Islander Aatu Raty, playing his first game at UBS Arena since being traded to the Canucks as part of the deal for Bo Horvat on Jan. 30, 2023, got to the crease to tip defenseman Marcus Pettersson’s shot at 13:59 to tie it at 2-2.

Casey Cizikas lifted a shot off a shorthanded rush with Jean-Gabriel Pageau to tie it at 1-1 at 5:35 and Tony DeAngelo, with the teams skating four-on-four, swooped in to lift the rebound of Pierre Engvall’s shot from the slot for a 2-1 lead at 9:00.

Kiefer Sherwood’s tip of Quinn Hughes’ blue-line shot opened the scoring at 2:39. Sherwood also clinched it with an empty-netter.

Demko made several Grade-A saves in the first period to keep the match scoreless through 20 minutes, including stoning Horvat, the former Canucks captain, twice at the crease. Demko made a split save on Horvat at 1:07 off Palmieri’s feed and used his blocker to deny Horvat off defenseman Noah Dobson’s two-on-one pass at 13:34. He also smothered Anthony Duclair’s one-timer from the low slot at 15:16 and used his left pad to turn aside Anders Lee at the crease at 18:32.

Notes & quotes: Third-line right wing Hudson Fasching returned after missing one game because of illness. Coach Patrick Roy said he was not tempted to keep Adam Boqvist in that spot alongside center Cizikas and Engvall despite the defenseman notching two assists against the Blue Jackets as a fill-in . . . Defensemen Scott Mayfield and Scott Perunovich and forward Matt Martin remained healthy scratches.