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The New York Islanders’ season is nearing the point of no return, following a sixth straight loss yesterday at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings.
Matt Martin was a scratch for the Islanders, as Pierre Engvall came back into the lineup. As a result, we saw a Lee-Barzal-Fasching line, along with Engvall-Pageau-Holmstrom and then Casey Cizikas with Kyle MacLean and Cal Clutterbuck. Robert Bortuzzo also joined the bottom pairing in place of Sebastian Aho, and Ilya Sorokin was back in net.
The Islanders came out with a decent first period, outshooting the Red Wings 9-7, with the teams trading unsuccessful power plays. Detroit did manage to open the scoring midway through the second period though, with Christian Fischer getting in alone and beating Ilya Sorokin. However, just two minutes later, Mike Reilly just made a zone entry and threw the puck on net, and it squeaked through James Reimer on what was a truly awful goal to give up, tying the game at 1-1.
The Islanders then had a power play with a chance to pull ahead, but after they couldn’t capitalize, things fell apart from there. First, Andrew Copp buried a rebound with four minutes to go in the frame, putting the Red Wings up 2-1. Then only two minutes later, Dylan Larkin wired home a one-timer off a pass from Alex DeBrincat, quickly putting the Islanders down by two heading into the second intermission.
Then in the third period, Copp managed to sneak a shot through Sorokin, extending the Red Wings’ lead lead to 4-1. Then shortly after, a puck got past Robert Bortuzzo at he offensive blue line and Alex DeBrincat went down ice to set-up Patrick Kane on a 2-on-1, putting Detroit up 5-1.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau did bury a rebound for the Islanders on a power play later to make it 5-2, and Mathew Barzal quickly brought New York back to within two just minutes later, throwing a puck on net which found its way in after hitting Simon Edvinsson in front.
Patrick Roy then pulled Sorokin early once again, and the Islanders actually did have some great chances with loose pucks around the net, but when they couldn’t convert, Dylan Larkin buried an empty netter to secure a 6-3 Detroit win.
With the loss, it’s now a little tough to see the Islanders realistically rebounding to get back into the playoff race.
It wasn’t necessarily a bad game overall, just one that featured some very bad stretches. A theme has been that the Islanders can just collapse for a period of time, even if short, and really sink their chances of winning.
I suppose it was nice to see a bit of offense for a potential comeback at the end there, but the reality is that the Islanders let themselves get into a 5-1 hole, where their lone goal came off a complete whiff by James Reimer. It was good to see them convert on the power play, but they also had three power plays beforehand where if they’d capitalized, it may have changed the game.
The Islanders now sit six points back of the Philadelphia Flyers and five points back of the Detroit Red Wings for the last two playoff spots, with the Washington Capitals also three points ahead of them. New York does have a game in hand on both the Flyers and Red Wings, but it’s tough to see them making any progress with the way they’ve been playing.
The Islanders will now enter a home back-to-back set, where they’ll face the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday and the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. We’re down to the point where both are pretty much must-win games, if New York’s going to have any chance of getting back into it.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM MARCH
- Islanders' four-game win streak breathes life into playoff hopes
- Isles fail to pull ahead in playoff race with mixed results on road trip
- Islanders drop both games of weekend back-to-back, now on four-game skid
- Islanders’ playoff chances take another hit with 4-1 loss to Hurricanes 
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