Follow me on Twitter:
@Hockey_Comps
Follow HockeyBuzz Islanders on Twitter:
@HB_Islanders
With two losses to end the week, the New York Islanders’ push for the playoffs often seems to be highlighted by more setbacks than forward progress.
After an opportunity to build some momentum coming off the overtime win in Pittsburgh, the Islanders followed up with a shutout loss in St. Louis, falling 4-0 against the Blues. Despite New York arguably having the more consistent chances through a lot of the game, the Islanders shot themselves in the foot by allowing three goals in 32 seconds early in the second frame, which was just a hole too large to recover from.
Then today against the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York once again found themselves down, this time as a result of a really slow start. In a tough first period, New York allowed two quick goals in the first six minutes of the game (despite one of their own being called back as well). The Lightning ended up extending the lead to three goals early in the second period, and while the Islanders were able to pull back into the game late with more life in the final frame, scoring two goals in roughly the final six minutes, they couldn’t complete the comeback and fell 4-2 with an empty net goal.
While blown leads have accounted for so many of the team's issues this year, these were just two games where New York put themselves in a hole before they could ever get to that point. You could argue that there were some elements to like about both games, outshooting their opponents by a combined 72-46 margin, but getting themselves into huge deficits, along with not being able to capitalize on a lot of their chances, ended up costing them.
While the Islanders’ offense has improved a bit from where it was a couple years ago, they still ended up going scoreless for five and a half periods straight over the two losses. Some of that was a lack of urgency to create anything, but part of it, especially in St. Louis, was also just not being able to finish. The power play also didn’t help, going just 1-for-10 on the man advantage over the two losses. At the end of the day, the team is still relying on four players for a massive chunk of their offense, in Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat, Brock Nelson and Noah Dobson.
Then while Casey Cizikas returned to action today, Scott Mayfield was out with a lower-body injury. He’s listed as ‘day-to-day’, but we also know that’s often not the case. It can’t be understated how much of a blow it is that the Islanders’ defense group struggles to stay healthy, with Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock each missing close to 25 games this year, and Mayfield now at 15 games missed.
The Islanders now have just one win over their last six games, and the playoffs are continuing to look less and less likely. They sit 12th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage, and so a loss to the Lightning, who they’re currently chasing for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, stings a bit extra.
Looking ahead, things aren’t getting any easier. Their three games this week all come against teams currently in playoff position, facing the Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins.
With the trade deadline coming up as well, New York is in a weird spot. They’re arguably too far out of the playoff race to really add much, but trading any useful roster players would pretty much mean throwing in the towel.
Right now, the Lightning are holding the final playoff spot in the East, sitting at a .568 points percentage, which would equate to about 93 points over 82 games. For the Islanders to even get to the 93-point mark, which is where they finished last year with a wildcard spot, they’d need a 16-8-4 record over their final 25 games.
It’s possible, but it’s just tough to see the Islanders pulling it off with how inconsistent they've been all year long. They’ll also play 14 of their final 25 games on the road, which is concerning considering they’ve won just 10 of 27 road games to this point.
Now, it seemed to be a similar story last year, and we ended up seeing the turnaround. But time isn’t on the Islanders’ side at this point in the season, and if they can’t put together a big week coming up against some good teams, that could spell the end.
The Islanders will be back in action on Monday, when they face the Dallas Stars on the road.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM FEBRUARY
- Islanders seeing mixed results under Patrick Roy
- Islanders blow 3-goal lead against Rangers in Stadium Series, lose in OT
- Islanders blow another lead but recover for OT win against Penguins 
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»
