Ducks 4 (EN), Islanders 1: Try, or try not?

That is the question that seems to face the Islanders every other night.

The Islanders didn’t really show up in Anaheim Sunday night. Marcus Hogberg was back, so that was nice, and his efforts kept it close before the dam finally broke on the way to a 4-1 Ducks win.

But overall, it was a disappointing, absent effort from a team supposedly chasing a playoff position, losing handily to a team that is well out of the playoff hunt but just a few points behind the Isles in the opposite conference.

It wasn’t an effort worth recapping in any detail. So I’ll just lean on one of many appropriate comments from the game thread:

Even after this miserable first 4/5 of this season, the Isles are going to no-show for a game where they could jump past three teams and position themselves to actually fight for WC2. Talk about crapping the bed.

They are so slow and boring and apathetic. The latter of which is how we should be.

It was that bad, and that sad, and WTF were any of us doing watching this crap late on a Sunday night anyway? I don’t even remember any individual performances outside of Hogberg, and Adam Pelech missing the net leading to the third Anaheim goal, and Noah Dobson making mind-boggling after mind-boggling decision with the puck.

[NHL Gamecenter | Game Summary | Event Summary | Natural Stat Trick]

I’ll say this much: one bit of trivia worth recording is how early Patrick Roy pulled the goalie.

With 12:28 left and trailing 3-0, pulled Hogberg for a sixth attacker. Not sure he’s done it earlier than that before. The Islanders should’ve had a power play when Kyle Palmieri was pulled down immediately after, but there was not call, and although Tony DeAngelo blocked the ensuing attempt at the empty net, the Ducks scored into it shortly afterward.

Another bit of trivia (which I somehow already forgot by the end-of-game malaise): Kyle MacLean was sick, so the Isles played defenseman Adam Boqvist at center. Yep. He didn’t take faceoffs, but he lined up there during play.

And there was this satisfying stop from Hogberg:

Eventually DeAngelo broke Lukas Dostal’s shutout bid with a point shot through traffic — and Dostal is a really good goalie, perhaps sentenced to the same imprisoned fate as John Gibson. It’s no shame to be blanked by Dostal if you actually try to score.

Up Next

The Isles are in Los Angeles Tuesday where the Kings have only lost three times in regulation this season. Should be fun.

That’s before they head back home for teams like the Oilers and Panthers. Should be even more fun.