St. Paul, Minn. — Forty-three games into the season, the Islanders still have many of the same issues from October. An overworked No. 1 goaltender. Lack of physicality. This team just hasn't been consistent enough to play to its potential every night, up and down the lineup.
All of these issues will continue to snowball into 2024 after putting together their worst effort of the season and losing 5-0 to the Wild on Monday night.
The Islanders have been out of the playoffs with a 2-5-2 record since Dec. 31, and will need to win in the second end of back-to-back games for the first time this year to stay below .500 on this trip. There is. Via Central.
They are only one point away from returning to the wild card spot, and their season is not on the brink.
However, this feels like the worst situation since manager Lane Lambert has faced questions about his job situation, not just because of his recent performance, but also because of his past history, following a seven-game losing streak in mid-November. ing.
The lack of pushback and level of apathy on Monday was jarring. The Islanders kept Minnesota alive in the offensive zone, especially in the second period when they trailed 21-3 after 20 minutes.
It was the exact opposite of what the Isles needed after Saturday's loss to Nashville. It was a disappointing outcome for everyone involved in this effort.
The Islanders continued to play some suffocating hockey in the middle that ultimately won them the game. Connor Dewar increased Minnesota's lead to 2-0 just 2:18 after Sebastian Aho turned the puck over from behind his own goal, allowing Dewar to skate. Slide it into the slot and hit your shots unhindered.
Joel Eriksson Ek then deflected Kirill Kaprizov's feed into the crease with little resistance on a power play after Bo Horvat's delayed penalty to make it 3-0.
There was zero chance of a turnaround from there. The Islanders took the proverbial white flag by pulling Ilya Sorokin for the final 20 minutes (presumably to rest him before Tuesday's back-to-back game in Winnipeg), giving Ken Appleby his first NHL action since January 2018. I shook it.
Kaprizov started the game with a four-minute high-sticking penalty with less than seven minutes left in the game, but Anders Lee hooked Jake Middleton with seven seconds left on the man advantage to turn the game around.
And when the Islanders returned to the power play, they immediately allowed a shorthanded goal to Eriksson Ek, putting an exclamation point on an embarrassing night. Marcus Foligno then added the Wild's fifth goal with 57 seconds left to add momentum.
The downward spiral began just minutes into the night.
A first period in which the Islanders earned three penalties (they finished with five on the night) and spent too much time in the defensive zone, taking just a few minutes to get inside the box to give the Wild the lead. It only took one time.
It happened 2 minutes, 11 seconds into the game after Sorokin failed to stop Mats Zuccarello's left circle shot.
Throughout the year, the Islanders were plagued by injuries and suffered loss of gut punch after gut punch. Most of the time they rolled with the punches.
But on Monday, the pain from Alexander Carrier's game-winning goal with 7.9 seconds left in Saturday's game against the Predators still seemed to be over.
The same goes for the wear and tear over the last month, with every step forward the injury situation took a step back.
That's the hard part, no one can argue with that. But the Islanders need points, and pity won't get them any.
Back in November, the Islanders finally bounced back from that losing streak, put together their best four weeks of the season, and vaulted into playoff contention. A similar turnaround would do wonders for them for now.
But if efforts like Monday's become the norm, they might as well take the ball and go home.
