St. Paul, Minn. — The Islanders will have to play more often in the second half of the season under a shocking last-gasp scoring blow that handed the Islanders a regulation loss Saturday night in Nashville. I'm back to a game like this. .
Valid stats from the 3-1 loss to the Predators: According to Natural Stat Trick, there were three dangerous chances allowed at 5-on-5, the fewest of the season for the Islanders.
“We were pretty solid,” Noah Dobson told the Post. “Both teams were solid defensively. There weren't a lot of great looks. There were definitely positive elements in there. It was a decent road game for the most part.”
The defense, which ranks 30th in the league in dangerous chances allowed, has had some false starts throughout the year, with Ilya Sorokin facing more shots than any other goaltender in the league. Ta.
There is no guarantee that this is not something else.
But it was around this time last season that the Islanders started to get into shape as a team after playing open games throughout the beginning of the year.
If they're going to do the same thing this year and reap the same benefits of making the playoffs, it needs to happen soon.
Whether it's because of injuries or because they've been like this all year, the Islanders have been playing mediocre hockey at best for a while now.
It wasn't that long ago that they started thinking about competing for first place in the Metropolitan Division with the Rangers.
They have to play the Red Wings on Sunday and woke up Monday with a playoff berth, finishing in the second wild card with a one-point lead over Detroit and New Jersey.
For the season overall, they are 19-13-10, known as 19-23 in sports where certain losses are not rewarded.
No one should begrudge the Islanders for taking advantage of the system at hand.
But by the same token, you shouldn't act as if your team's losses are a greater success than their wins.
This situation could quickly turn around in the playoff race, with even the first-place Rangers having lost four straight and entering Sunday just seven points out of the playoffs.
But Monday night's game against the Wild was the first end of a back-to-back, and given how poorly the Isles have performed in those situations all year, and the goaltending situation, that second end is already It feels like a cancellation — things could spiral just as quickly.
The Isles have confidence, especially since Matthew Barzal and Bo Horvat have limited time on the ice together due to an injury to Casey Cizikas, and Barzal played 7 minutes and 28 seconds at 5-on-5 Saturday thanks to a double shift. You need to do more than that. their star power.
A group that was once great at protecting leads and winning 2-1 needs to do just that.
The Islanders can't keep asking Sorokin, who has a huge workload due to Semyon Varlamov's injury and could be forced to start both Monday and Tuesday, to rebuild their poor defense.
The blue line is still not healthy, but with Adam Pelech and Scott Mayfield back on the team, things are much more manageable than they were two weeks ago.
On-ice results need to start reflecting that.
If you look closely, Saturday may have been the start.
“I thought our players were really solid,” Anders Lee told the Post after the loss. “It was a tough night to do much offensively. They played their game really well and we did the same thing. Not a lot of open ice, not a lot of open play, just a tough game. I thought it was a really solid game.”
