Islanders compete for first place

CALGARY, Alta. – The Islanders drew in the third period, but Austin Czarnik and Johnny Gaudreau scored 29 seconds apart in the third period to lead the Flames to a 4-2 victory over the Islanders in a battle of Teams on Wednesday night.

Mikael Backlund and former Islander Travis Hamonic also scored, while Calgary earned their third consecutive victory after four days of skidding. Mike Smith stopped 17 shots.

"I would be lying if I did not say it feels good," said Harmonic. "There are so many good friends and so much fun and good memories on Long Island, so to be able to put one tonight, that's obviously good."

Casey Cizikas and Anders Lee scored for the Islanders, who tied them earlier in the third after being 2-0 after one period. Thomas Greiss finished with 28 saves in the third defeat of the regulars in 16 games.

Lee equalized at 1:19 of the third minute when he was all alone in the slot and Jordan Eberle scored a pass in the net before Smith could pass. It was the 20th of Lee's season.

"We had a big failure" F. " We had too many passengers, "said Islanders coach Barry Trotz. "We were poor at our outings. We were mediocre during our execution. We were poor on our battles. We were poor on our races. We were poor.

The Islanders' position on Washington at the top of the metropolitan division remained at three points.

"We did not come out loud enough and that's the bottom line," said Cizikas. "I think we showed them a little too much respect.

"Down on their side, I thought we had given too many pucks. For a team that likes to put the puck on the ground and make it work, we just can not do it tonight. We must have a short memory because we have a big one (Thursday against Edmonton). "

Czarnik gave the Flames the lead at 6:10 with his fifth of the season and his third in three games.

Barely 8 seconds after Nick Leddy of the Islanders was whistled for interference, Gaudreau was 4-2 with a career-high 30 goals.

Backlund opened the scoring just 5 minutes into the match on a 2-on-1. Michael Frolik sent a perfect pass for the saucer on Backlund's backstroke as he cut into the net and clinched the puck in front of Greiss. for his 15th place.

Hamonic then doubled ahead of his old team with just over 4 minutes in the first. Bacjkynd returned the puck to the blue line after Elias Lindholm's victory at the showdown and Hamonic sent a high shot ahead of Greiss for fifth place.

The Islanders lost 2-1 at 9:51 of a second while Cizikas rained the puck under Smith's pads for his 16th goal. The sequence began with a TJ Brodie gift in front of the Calgary net.