Maybe this was the hockey gods’ way of getting back at the Islanders for their lackluster performance against the Blackhawks the other night.
Or perhaps they just need to really reflect on their game because it’s been three weeks since they scored more than three goals in any match. On Thursday, Dylan Gunter notched a hat trick, which sounds good, but their power play was pitiful, and they failed to keep up the pace at even strength, resulting in a disheartening 7-2 defeat to the Mammoth.
More troubling, though, was watching Bo Horvat head down the tunnel with what seemed to be a lower-body injury in the third period—just a day after being named to Team Canada’s Olympic roster.
Going into the third period, the Islanders were down 3-1, but managed to get their only goal when Alexander Kerfoot assisted Cal Ritchie with just 1:26 left. But they couldn’t muster a shot during their power play and even allowed a goal from Mikhail Sergachev earlier on.
Not long after, Ritchie found himself out of position, leading to another power-play goal from Clayton Keller, while the goalie didn’t even make an effort to get back into position.
David Rittich was then pulled for Marcus Hogberg, who had his work cut out for him making his first appearance of the year. Rittich had been doing a decent job stepping in for Ilya Sorokin, though he didn’t do well on Thursday, stopping only 9 of 14 shots. The pressure was clearly getting to him.
As has become increasingly evident, the Islanders have been their own worst enemy lately, filled with errors and missed chances. Tony DeAngelo, for instance, was caught out of position early on, contributing to Dylan Guenther’s goal just 36 seconds in. Then, he turned the puck over, which led to Nick Schmaltz adding to the score.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who was also on the ice during some critical moments, let a puck slip by him, and it resulted in another goal for the Mammoths.
Despite outplaying Utah in stretches, they only converted 3 out of 23 power-play attempts since mid-December. This lack of scoring is astonishing. Ironically, they controlled parts of the game quite well, even holding Utah to no 5-on-5 shots in the first period. The line changes by Patrick Roy, like separating Horvat from Matt Barzal, appeared to work to some extent.
Still, Jonathan Drouin hasn’t scored since mid-November, despite being a mainstay on the power play, and DeAngelo was having one of his roughest games. Overall, the Isles seem to be stalling in their attempts to regain their scoring touch.
But Thursday felt like a low point. Really low.
