There’s a lot of optimism around the Islanders right now, but scoring points in the playoff race has proven difficult.
And on Saturday, Mackenzie Weegar’s hat trick handed the Isles their first loss since the All-Star break, with a 5-2 loss at home to the Flames, putting the home team just inches away from having it all. shrunk. can is extremely important.
Thursday’s game against Tampa was their best performance under coach Patrick Roy, with a near-perfect performance, but this was clearly their worst result since the new head coach took over.
The Islanders, without Alexander Romanov with a lower-body issue, struggled to generate offense as Calgary did a good job of keeping them on the outside and limiting dangerous chances.
Aside from a strong start, the energy wasn’t all that great.
The second line lacked a breakout overall and was the only group that generated much offense.
It also didn’t help that several breaks went against the Isles (for example, a first-period score by Kyle Palmieri that was canceled for offside).
No one expects the Isles to win every game.
But the Islanders will have to worry just as much about fending off the Penguins and Devils behind them as they will about catching the Red Wings, Lightning and Flyers. They both have a game in their hands.
They had dug enough holes before Patrick Roy took over as head coach that losses hurt more than wins at this point.
This game, where the Isles fell behind 3-0 and couldn’t mount a strong comeback effort going into the third round, hurt for more reasons than the standings.
