RALEIGH, N.C. — Islanders who believe they can turn their season around are facing a harsh reality when they take to the ice.
The latest indignity, Tuesday's 4-0 loss to the Hurricanes at Lenovo Center, proves that the Islanders, who were last above NHL .500 on Oct. 25, are a team, currently playing 33 games worth of games. It was just the latest piece of evidence. To reach mediocrity, you will need everything you need.
Not even the playoffs.
“We're making people healthy right now,” Ryan Purok told the Post. “We have a full lineup, so we have to find a way to win these games. I think it might be a little early, but we have to have some urgency. These games are really important. Points We need to find a way to get it.”
The Hurricanes were faster than the Islanders, stronger with the puck, stronger in front of the net, and, to no one's surprise, light years better on both special teams units.
Mathieu Barzal and Adam Pelech returned to action after a six-week wait just two days ago, but their shadows have already been cast as the Islanders' myriad issues look exactly the same as when they left. is overshadowed by
For the Islanders to get back to NHL .500, they need to win their remaining two games before Christmas, rather than use their return from injury to build momentum for a breakthrough. Currently, the Islanders are 12-14-7 through 33 games, their worst record since the 2013-14 season.
Just days after Patrick Roy publicly admonished the team for failing to defend Ilya Sorokin's crease, the Islanders played their softest game of the season in their own net, giving up every rebound and giving up all He lost the battle and was boxed out at almost every opportunity.
Roy did his best to keep things positive and refused to bring his team down for it.
“It's a team that did a really good job,” he said. “They were better than us. Their forwards were on the puck and we lost the battle around the net. Although they did a good job in front of the net boxing and beat us. , we had some good chances as well.”
The Islanders did outperform the Hurricanes, and by Natural Stat Trick's calculations, were even at risk, but that belied much of what happened.
Once the Islanders had possession of the puck, they went on an odd-man rush, and Sebastian Aho capped the blowout with a 2-on-1 with Eric Robinson to make it 4-0 with 15 seconds left in the second period.
The Islanders played better hockey in the second game than they did in the disastrous first, but a breakdown up front led Tyson Jost to a rebound from Shayne Gostisbehere at 11:13 to take a 3-0 lead. .
Trailing 4-0 in the third, Roy showed Sorokin mercy for the second time in the past seven games, with the goalie stopping 19 of 23 shots before Marcus Hogberg relieved him.
In the other net, Pyotr Kochetkov earned his first shutout win since March 30, holding the Islanders scoreless for the first time since October 30 with 32 saves.
“I think we played a really good game. If we could score one or two of them, it would change the direction of the game a little bit,” Pulock said, summarizing much of the emotion in the dressing room.
To call the feelings generous would be the understatement of the year after the Islanders suffered their biggest loss of the season.
Andrei Svechnikov brought Karolina into the game just 5 minutes, 47 seconds into the game, coming to the net on a power play and beating Sorokin with his legs. Jordan Martinook got to the crease just a few minutes later and Noah Dobson cleaned up Jordan Staal's rebound.
The slow start appears to be as much of a concern for the Islanders as the third-period collapse. This was the eighth consecutive game in which they conceded the lead, but what was more worrisome was the lack of physicality or defensive zone construction in the first 20 minutes.
The standings are incredibly generous to the Islanders, but the fact they won just 12 of their first 33 games tells you all you need to know about where this team currently stands. .
“The players were resilient,” Roy said. “The players tried.”
But this is the NHL. And the only thing you get for trying here is getting into the draft lottery.
