Islanders Fall 5-2 To Flames ELMONT, NY – The Calgary Flames defeated the New York Islanders 5-2 on Next Gen Day from UBS Arena. The Flames recorded their fourth-straight win this afternoon. MacKenzie Weegar recorded a hat trick for the Flames, with his second career multi-goal game. He now leads the NHL in goals by a defenseman this season with 15. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA0MjU2MzU1MDg1NzIzNTMz/usatsi_22489980.jpg] Semyon Varlamov got the start in goal for what is his 600th NHL game played. Varlamov saved 19 of the 22 shots he faced. Jacob Markstrom stopped 35 of 37 Islanders shots and picked up his fourth-straight win. The Islanders ended up being without Alexander Romanov in this game, which the team announced shortly before warmups. New York got off to a quick start with some offensive zone pressure, but it was the Flames who scored the game's first goal. Weegar took the puck coast-to-coast all by himself and floated the puck past Varlamov 3:47 into the game. It looked like a shot that Varlamov would want back. The Flames goaltender Markstrom received the sole assist on the goal, his fourth point of the season. The Islanders thought they tied the game up at the 13:59 mark of the first period, but the officials ruled no goal after a Calgary coach’s challenge. Kyle Palmieri shot the puck from just outside the zone, but Engvall entered too quickly making the play offside. Both teams traded chances, but it was the Flames holding onto a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. They led the Islanders in shots 8-6. A turnover granted a two-on-one chance for Pospisil early into the second who fired a slapshot, but Varlamov was up to the task and swallowed it up. The Flames went to the game's first power play and capitalized, with Jonathan Huberdeau scoring his eighth goal of the season 8:38 into the middle period. Calgary’s 28th-ranked power play was able to get one past the struggling Islanders penalty kill. The goal was assisted by Sharangovich and Hanifin. The Islanders were still unable to score with a couple of chances, but another strange bounce helped the Flames go up 3-0. With 4:44 to go in the second Weegar buried his second goal of the game after the puck slid through the slot right to him. Calgary won a battle in the corner forcing the puck to that open space. Duehr and Rooney had the assists. It was a tough second period for the Islanders as they found themselves down 3-0 to the Flames after 40 minutes. The Flames did a good job keeping the Islanders to the outside and did not allow many high-danger chances. Brock Nelson got the Islanders on the board with his team-leading 22nd goal of the season. Matt Martin provided a tremendous screen in front of Markstrom. The goal came exactly four minutes into the third and gave the Islanders some life as they looked to crawl back into the game. Dobson switched off with Nelson and received an assist with Palmieri getting credited with the secondary. With 7:25 to go in the game, the Islanders were awarded their first power play. New York generated some solid shots but was unable to cut their deficit to one. Patrick Roy pulled Varlamov to play with an empty net with 4:15 to go in the game. It was an aggressive move that quickly backfired as Blake Coleman stole the puck after an Islander faceoff win and laid the puck into the empty net with 3:01 to play. The net was empty again but JG Pageau scored on Markstrom to make it a 4-2 score. A chaotic sequence around the Flames net ended up having the puck go from Barzal right to Pageau who lifted it high into the net, now with 2:32 to play Weegar added another empty-netter for the Flames, in what ended up being his third goal of the game for his first-career hat trick. That one came with 22 seconds remaining, with Huberdeau and Kadri getting the assists for getting the puck to Weegar to fire it in the empty cage. UP NEXT: The Islanders wrap up a three-game homestand on Tuesday as they host the Seattle Kraken at 7:30 PM ET. LINES: Anders Lee - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal Pierre Engvall - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri Simon Holmstrom - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Oliver Wahlstrom Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck Sebastian Aho - Noah Dobson Adam Pelech - Ryan Pulock Mike Reilly - Scott Mayfield Semyon Varlamov Ilya Sorokin
