Isles dominated by Kraken in first two periods of ugly loss

The Islanders’ struggles protecting third-period leads has led to bad losses this season.

But this 5-2 defeat to the Kraken on Thursday night at UBS Arena was different and much worse.

Because the Islanders were just bad from the start, not finding their game until the third period when it was too late. They didn’t compete hard enough for pucks. They struggled with puck possession and lapsed in defensive coverage. They couldn’t score on a four-minute power play that bridged the second and third periods.

Goalie Ilya Sorokin, not at fault but not sharp enough in stopping just nine of 13 shots, was pulled after two periods in favor of Marcus Hogberg ( 11 saves), an emergency recall from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport after losing 6-1 to Hartford on Wednesday night. He had not played in the NHL since April 28, 2021.

It matched the largest margin of defeat this season for the Islanders (9-11-7), now in a 2-5-3 slump.

Joey Daccord made 28 saves for the Kraken (13-13-1), denied a shutout as defenseman Noah Dobson made it 4-1 at 11:57 of the third period. Maxim Tsyplakov made it 4-2 at 15:37 with Hogberg pulled for an extra skater before Jaden Schwartz clinched it with an empty-netter.

The Kraken led 2-0 after one period as defenseman Vince Dunn had two shots from the blue line tipped past Sorokin. First, Tye Kartye stretched to redirect Dunn’s shot from the left point at 2:48. Then, with two seconds remaining on defenseman Scott Mayfield’s delay of game penalty, Oliver Bjorkstrand got to the slot to tip in a power-play goal at 16:58.

Bo Horvat, whose unwanted streak of games without a goal stretched to 13, whiffed on Anders Lee’s feed to the net with an open look at 6:29 of the first period.

Dunn then skated around Pierre Engvall and connected from the slot for a 3-0 lead at 3:55 of the second period. Shane Wright’s power-play goal made it 4-0 at 13:05 of the second period.

Engvall had been a healthy scratch the previous two games but coach Patrick Roy reinserted Engvall on Brock Nelson’s second line with Kyle Palmieri with the implicit message to get to the crease and play more aggressively.

He did not and, by the second period, he was skating with fourth-line center Casey Cizikas.

Notes & quotes: Defenseman Ryan Pulock’s primary assist on Tsyplakov’s goal was his 200th career point . . . Goalie Semyon Varlamov (lower body/day to day) was unavailable for the second time in four days. “Short term for now,” Roy said. “We’ll see how it goes…” Defenseman Adam Pelech (jaw/injured reserve), who missed his 16th game since Nov. 1, rejoined his teammates for Thursday’s morning skate wearing a non-contact jersey a full face shield. “He was playing so well before that injury, I just hope that he’ll be back soon,” Roy said . . . . Matt Martin and defenseman Dennis Cholowski were the healthy scratches. Roy said he’s playing Grant Hutton ahead of Cholowski because Hutton is playing with “more of a bite” and is better defensively . . . . Defenseman Noah Dobson was asked whether he had any expectations he’d be selected for Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off. “There’s so many good players to choose from, it wasn’t really a focus of mine,” Dobson said. “It’s not something I’m going to dwell over.” Team Canada general manager Don Sweeney said Mathew Barzal (upper body/long-term injured reserve), who has been out since Oct. 30, could be a player that’s added in case injuries impact the roster before the tournament begins on Feb. 12.