Perhaps this will give the islanders some sense of urgency.
It hasn't been much lately for a club that has won just three of its past 13 games, but the close-game saga finally came to an end on Thursday night with a lethargic and miserable 5-2 loss to the Kraken. At UBS Arena.
The Islanders are currently 9-11-7 after 27 games, with just 25 points, but no matter what excuses they make, injuries are to blame. Many single-goal games go in the wrong direction. They are still a few points away from a playoff spot and sit in the basement of the Metropolitan Division.
While their neighbors across the East River are in season-saving mode, the Islanders have yet to approach anything even in that rhetorical ballpark, despite a record that largely masks the team's fundamental problems. .
Things may change after Thursday.
This was arguably their worst performance of the season as the Islanders were outplayed and outplayed in all 200 feet.
They lacked detail or emotion to their games, being forced in and dominated by special teams.
FYI, Ilya Sorokin struggled at the net, allowing four goals on his first 13 shots, before being hit by Marcus Hogberg for his third.
The only comparable Islanders performance of recent vintage was last season's 5-0 loss at Minnesota, which essentially sealed Lane Lambert's fate.
The game had no lead in the third period, attempts to put Pierre Engvall in the second row to set things up failed, and the Swede was unable to play physically around the net like Patrick Roy had been begging for. could not establish a strong presence. Something to do for weeks.
And the Islanders were no different, allowing two tip-in goals in the first 20 minutes of the game.
Just 2:46 into the game, Vince Dunn hit a shot from the left point to an unmanned Ty Carty to give Seattle the lead.
Dunn picked up an additional assist late in the first, when Oliver Bikolkstrand's shot was deflected at the end of Seattle's power play.
But Engvall had no trouble stealing the puck from Yanni Gould early in the second period, allowing Vince Dunn to skate unimpeded near the zone and score, moving his relegation to the fourth line ( (and maybe even a healthy scratch) definitely moved him back to the fourth row. To make it 3-0.
This was the first of two bad goals Sorokin allowed, the second being a Shane Wright shot from the left circle that beat the goaltender cleanly on the near side at 13:05 of the game against the Kraken. It resulted in the second power play goal. Second.
Given three power-play chances (one of which was a four-minute double minor), the Islanders were unable to put together anything of note and often struggled to maintain possession of the puck.
These special teams trends are nothing new.
By the time Noah Dobson scored with 8:03 left in the game, breaking Joey Daccord's shutout, most of the fans in the arena were long gone.
The Islanders regained some dignity on the scoreline with Max Tsyplakov's 6-for-5 goal to make it 4-2, but it turned out to be nothing more than symbolic.
Any signs of a miraculous comeback were snuffed out by Jaden Schwartz's empty goal.
It's a broken record at this point that the Islanders are hoping their fortunes will turn around once they reach full health, but there was some good injury news (Adam Pelech returned to the team for the morning skate). There are also things to be careful about during the day. Semyon Varlamov has been day-to-day with a lower-body injury, which is why Hogberg relieved Sorokin on Thursday. Kyle Palmieri and Grant Hutton each left the game with separate injuries, but both returned.
It was a reminder that in the NHL, perfect health usually exists only in the imagination.
The truth is, the Islanders will have to work this out with what they have.
The fact is that they have won three of the last 13 games here, but that is not enough.
