VANCOUVER — The New York Islanders 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night ended speculation that rookie John Tavares is wilting under the spotlight with his sparkling five-point performance.

It also started some second guessing as to why the Canucks get up for the elite and come out flat against struggling clubs.

“We outshot them badly, but we didn’t go to the tough areas in front of the net,” winger Daniel Sedin said of a 37-20 shot advantage that was overshadowed by a slow start, surrendering a 3-0 lead and starter Roberto Luongo being yanked after giving up four goals on a dozen shots through two periods. “We had a lot of chances, but he (Dwayne Roloson) saw a lot of pucks and it’s tough to score in this league when he sees a lot of the shots.”

It’s also tough when your starter is outplayed. It was the fourth time in his last 13 outings that Luongo has been yanked and the seventh time this season that the starter has been lifted in favour of Andrew Raycroft. He was easily outplayed by Roloson, who made a number of spectacular saves to keep the Canucks from padding their division lead and closing ground on San Jose and Chicago atop the conference.

The Canucks did have their chances in the final period in an attempt to make it a league-leading 11 comeback wins when trailing after 40 minutes. Mason Raymond was denied by Roloson and there was added pressure, but the loss may be a blessing in disguise. The Canucks learned the hard way that they can’t keep playing partial games.

“We got in penalty trouble early on and that’s a tough way to get momentum,” said winger Alex Burrows. “It seemed we couldn’t get going and we battled back in the second and got pucks to the net. But Rollie made some big saves.”

Still, after trailing 3-0 in the second period, the Canucks appeared to get the lift they so desperately needed. They reunited Burrows with Henrik and Daniel Sedin and put Mikael Samuelsson back with Ryan Kesler and Pavol Demitra. When Kyle Wellwood deposited a Christian Ehrhoff rebound at 16:35 of the frame and Burrows then buried a neat backhand pass from Daniel from behind the net just two minutes later, the stage appeared set for another comeback victory.

“At 3-2, I thought we were in good shape,” said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. “But that late goal was hard on us.”

When Tavares easily wheeled around struggling defenceman Andrew Alberts and his backhander went off Freddy Meyer as he went sprawling in the crease with 7.6 seconds left in the period, it gave the Isles a 4-2 lead and deflated the Canucks. It also ended Luongo’s night even though the Canucks outshot the Islanders 19-4 in the period but gave up a redirect by Matt Moulson and Meyer’s goal to dig a two-goal hole.

Tavares then added insult to injury when he bagged his second of the night into an empty net with 2:30 remaining.

A sign of what would be a troubling night came early. Not only were the Canucks taking lazy penalties in the first period, they were being beaten to loose pucks and simply outwilled. It showed early when a video review was needed to deny Bruno Gervais a goal off a scramble when the net came off the mooring before the puck crossed the goal-line. It continued when a harmless-looking Dylan Reese snap shot from the point eluded Luongo on the glove side with Moulson providing the screen. And when Alex Edler allowed Tavares to establish power-play position and bag his 19th goal of the season, the seed of doubt had been planted.

“For me, when I don’t have an even-strength shift until midway through the first period, it’s tough to get going,” said Kesler, whose ice time was limited in the third period. “I don’t like starting my shift on the penalty kill. We have to generate our own rhythm.”