WASHINGTON, DC — You might call it a Thanksgiving hangover, but Islanders are like this all year long.
This leads to the conclusion that perhaps this is the true identity of the islanders.
We're 24 games into the season, and it's not too early, but the Islanders haven't played a decent hockey game in any area other than Friday's final score in Washington.
Rather, the most recent third-period implosion in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Capitals showed the Islanders not just lagging behind the league's typical Cup contenders, but also clinging on. The harsher reality is that they are lagging behind another club that has been criticized for their lack of success. The core was too long. And that's without the injured Alex Ovechkin on the ice.
Trailing for much of the afternoon, which ended with a game-winner by Jakob Tuithurn, the Islanders took advantage of a fortuitous sequence of events: a successful challenge, a rare penalty-kill success, and two goals from the momentum that followed. They took a 4-2 lead and started the game. Third.
It looked like it had real momentum.
That was just as fake as every other lead the Islanders have given away for nothing this season.
Anders Lee drew a penalty with a hook just five seconds into the third period, but his kills, which had been very successful in the second, stalled as Dylan Strom edged Semyon Varlamov by one point. The lead was cut in half.
The Islanders couldn't even reach the halfway mark in the first half, taking advantage of a failed clearance by Noah Dobson to allow Tom Wilson to convert a one-timer off a feed from Trevor van Riemsdyk to tie the game at 7:24. .
The Islanders had a chance to regain the lead when Nick Dowd was called for a slash with 3:50 left in regulation, but he whiffed for the third time on the power play of the afternoon.
This sent the game into overtime, giving the Islanders at least one point.
But watching Chichurun score and win 3-3 on an afternoon when they led by two points would feel like a slight reversal.
Clubs will almost certainly see what they can do when healthy before making a buy-or-sell decision, but for now the very modest goals Patrick Roy stated on Wednesday night in the NHL. are three games behind. 500 when reinforcements arrive.
In previous losses, the Islanders could at least take their hats off for playing strong and creating opportunities, but that wasn't the case in this game.
Instead, it was the Capitals who made plays on the ice and had possession of the puck, aided by a forecheck that the Islanders couldn't solve and a defensive zone breakdown that the Islanders couldn't afford.
Simon Holmstrom, who played on the top line after J.G. Pageau suffered a lower-body injury late in the game, helped put the team in control with an early goal and scored his first career double in the final half. He scored a goal. Second.
The latter goal came after Patrick Roy successfully interfered with the goalie for Washington's go-ahead goal, and back-to-back goals from Kyle MacLean and Holmstrom turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-2 lead. . .
The Islanders struggled early in the game, but it looked like they were in control, and if they could keep up the momentum in the final period, it looked like they could take a two-point lead.
Instead, it was a mirage of the same.
It was the same islanders.
Same result.
