ELMONT, N.Y. — The St. Louis Blues and the New York Islanders each know what their passports look like. They know their origins, they know their identity, and both teams understand that their best hockey comes from playing tight-checking, low-scoring games.

During Saturday night’s 3-1 Islanders win at UBS Arena, both teams verified their IDs. The teams combined for one goal at even strength as the Blues lost for the seventh time in the last nine games.

Jake Neighbours scored a power-play goal for the Blues as he continued his hot offensive streak with goals in three of four games, plus a decisive shootout goal Thursday vs. San Jose.

Kyle Palmieri scored twice (one into an empty net) and Brock Nelson (power play) added another for the Islanders.

The teams played more than five weeks ago to a similarly low-scoring affair, as the Blues won 1-0 in overtime.

“That’s a long time ago,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said before the game. “There’s two different teams. We were a different team then, and they’re a different team now. A lot of what we take is based over the last few games.”

Neighbours scored from his usual spot on the edge of the crease, dealt a pass from the right wing by Pavel Buchnevich after Robert Thomas won the faceoff.

Bannister took an Islanders goal off the board with 8:27 left in the third period with a successful challenge for goaltender interference. Noah Dobson scored from the right circle, but Palmieri was draped on Jordan Binnington's back. After a short review, the goal was disallowed.

Palmieri scored an empty-netter with 37 seconds remaining.

The Blues continue their three-game trip through the New York-area teams when they face the Rangers on Monday night.

Getting burnt

The Blues took a pair of penalties in the second period, and Ryan Suter’s tripping infraction with 4:30 left in it was costly when Nelson scored from the slot on the ensuing power play. The Islanders entered the evening with the second-worst power play in the NHL, scoring on just 12.1% of their opportunities.

Nelson scored from his knees after he was shoved to the ice by Brayden Schenn, but Nelson was able to finish Maxim Tsyplakov’s pass from behind the Blues net that slipped through the stick check of Colton Parayko. It was Nelson’s eighth goal of the season.

The Blues were able to kill Thomas’ holding penalty earlier in the period. Thomas typically takes the first faceoff of the penalty kill, especially on the right side, but it was Oskar Sundqvist that took the draw before Nelson’s goal.

The Blues finished with eight shots on goal in the period, and their best chance came with Sundqvist led Nathan Walker with a pass towards the crease with about a minutes remaining in the period.

The Blues had two extended shifts in the Islanders’ zone — mostly with Thomas, Buchnevich and Neighbours on the ice — but could not produce any grade-A chances out of it. They were able to tire out the Islanders and get a line change, but most of their possession was on the perimeter of the ice.

Paying the price

Binnington allowed the Blues to weather a late-period surge by the Islanders in the first period, but that was undone when Pierre-Olivier Joseph’s failed breakout pass ended up in the St. Louis net. Joseph controlled the puck in his own zone on the far side of the ice, and eyed Brayden Schenn standing in front of the Islanders' bench.

But his pass went directly to Nelson at the red line, and the Islanders were gifted an easy 3 on 2. Nelson passed to a driving Kyle Palmieri in the middle of the ice, and Palmieri beat Binnington with a shot on his blocker side.

The goal was building for the Islanders, who started to take over the game in the final seven minutes of the period. After Dylan Holloway’s shot on goal with 6:58 remaining in the period, the Islanders had seven of the next eight shots, including Palmieri’s goal.

On Saturday, Joseph played his second game since returning from a lower-body injury that forced him to miss three games. Against San Jose on Thursday, he was the only Blue on the ice for both their goals.

Overall in the first period, the Blues were outshot 12-7 by the Islanders. It was the first time the Blues were outshot in the first period since Nov. 14 in Buffalo.

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