Flames shut out by Islanders, suffer 7th loss in 9 starts

After missing the first four games, Jaroslav Halak has picked up where he left off last season for the New York Islanders.

Halak stopped 29 shots for his second shutout in his last three starts, Frans Nielsen scored twice and the Islanders beat the visiting Calgary Flames 4-0 Monday night.

"Guys are doing so many good things in front of me," said the mild-mannered Halak, who had a team-record 38 wins last season. "Everyone is doing a good job. And every point is huge for us."

We can't have too many more of these or it will get away from us pretty quickly. ... We have to keep grinding and not let games slip away.- Flames captain Mark Giordano after Monday's 4-0 loss to the Islanders

The win gave the Islanders a 6-2-1 mark after nine games and has them behind only the Rangers and undefeated Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference.

The Flames, coming off a 4-1 defeat at the New York Rangers the previous night, lost for the seventh time in nine games this season.

"We can't have too many more of these or it will get away from us pretty quickly," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. "Tonight we unravelled a bit. We have to keep grinding and not let games slip away."

New York held a 14-8 shots advantage in the first. Both teams had 10 shots in the second.

The Flames had 11 more shots in the third but couldn't solve Halak, who improved to 3-1-0 this season. Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman had perhaps the best chance almost five minutes with a point-blank from the top of the left circle.

Strong 1st start

Flames netminder Joni Ortio made his first start of the season and finished with 31 saves. He became the backup when Karri Ramo was sent to the minors last week. The 24-year-old Finnish goaltender was a sixth-round draft pick by Calgary in 2009.

"He made some big saves to keep us in it," Giordano said. "But we let in one goal get us down. We have to fight through and turn this around."

The Flames, who won 45 games and finished with 97 points last season, are averaging less than two goals a game with just 16 goals in nine contests. They have yet to lead after two periods and they have yet to score more than three goals in a game.

Jaro made some big saves when he had to. And I thought everyone contributed.- Islanders head coach Jack Capuano on goalie Jaroslav Halak

Last season's rookie sensation Johnny Gaudreau hasn't scored in the last seven games and has only one goal this season.

Halak, who improved to 3-1 with a 1.76 goals-against average in four starts this season, also had a shutout at Columbus last Tuesday night. He missed the beginning of the season with an upper-body injury.

"Jaro made some big saves when he had to," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "And I thought everyone contributed. We played pretty well tonight."

Mikhail Grabovski and Cal Clutterbuck also scored for the Islanders and Kyle Okposo and Nikolay Kulemin each had two assists to help the Islanders improve to 4-1-1 at home this season.

Islanders forward Ryan Strome returned after he was a healthy scratch in the previous game.