PITTSBURGH — About 20 minutes after spilling onto the ice at MetLife Stadium to celebrate the Rangers’ 6-5 victory over the Islanders on Artemi Panarin’s overtime goal, Brock Nelson let out a deep sigh. Ta.
“It feels like it’s going to take a little bit of time right now given the circumstances of the day, the game, the environment,” he said. “Let’s take a moment now to reflect and think about what we can do today and review tomorrow and clean up.
“And now the next game for us is the biggest game of the year. We have to find a way to win it and put some methods together.”
In a season filled with gut-punch losses, Sunday is the worst case scenario.
The Islanders fumbled for a commanding lead against their arch-rivals in front of a crowd of about 80,000 outdoors on national television.
The dressing room was clearly disappointed, and there was no expression of satisfaction at being sent off with just one point for the 14th time this season.
“Yeah, I mean, sorry, that’s not really important,” Matthew Barzal said. “It was a great game, great atmosphere. Whether we score or don’t score, it’s certainly good for us in terms of the standings, but tonight was an important game.”
And now he has no choice but to get up off the mat and try to end what is now a three-game losing streak against the Penguins on Tuesday.
If you were to pinpoint exactly where the Islanders’ season started to stall, their first matchup with Pittsburgh — a 7-0 loss at home in their first game back from Christmas break — would be a prime candidate. right.
Since then, the Islanders have gone 6-10-5, falling like a rock from second to fifth in the Metropolitan Division. If they lose to the Penguins, Pittsburgh would also be in a great position to leapfrog them.
Four of the Islanders’ next five games will be on the road, with Saturday’s home game against Tampa split between Pittsburgh and St. Louis, before heading to Dallas and Detroit.
If there aren’t any signs of improvement, it’s going to be pretty hard to justify any drastic additions at the trade deadline, even for a front office as bullish about the Islanders’ chances as they are.
The situation after Sunday is the same as it has been for a while.
The Islanders are one week away from making the playoffs with a tailwind.
But there isn’t much to suggest that a good week is just around the corner.
If the Islanders hadn’t lost so many games this year in similar fashion, Sunday would have felt like a gut-check loss.
If anything, it feels like the identity that this team has unknowingly allowed to infiltrate has been further confirmed.
Long Island is where Reed dies.
There’s still time to change that.
But after a certain point, you have no choice but to believe that the team is what it represents.
The Islanders are pretty close to that point.
And given the circumstances Sunday, it’s harder to move on from a loss than similar games against the Sharks, Hurricanes, Canucks, Devils and Bruins.
“When you look at 5-on-5, that’s the hockey we want to play and we felt like we played a very good game,” coach Patrick Roy said. “We played at a good pace, competed well and had chances. [Igor Shesterkin] made huge savings [Brock] Nelson midway through the third period. … To me, this is a very positive game for us. ”
Roy is correct that the 5-on-5 stats looked great for the Islanders. The Islanders completely surrendered the game while getting 67.81 percent of expected goals, 63.16 percent of dangerous chances, and 61.4 percent of shots.
Perhaps it’s a sign that they’re getting closer to figuring it out.
But the standings are what they are and there is no way to fix it unless a reversal occurs soon.
