Or maybe the Islanders are the bad team.
Yet another night where the New York Islanders controlled the run of play as far as the underlying numbers show, and it meant absolutely nothing. Aside from shooting more—mostly from the perimeter, I guess looking for tips if we’re being charitable but not often finding them and instead sending muffins into the goalie’s glove—this looks just like year’s team, except they have an even worse scoring problem.
The penalty kill also might be even worse than last year. And as previously noted, the Islanders have blown 90% of the leads they’ve gotten so far. They keep dropping points to the teams they should beat, games where you look back later in the season and say “Man, if only they closed out that game against the Devils instead of somehow snatching a regulation loss out of it, or the Sharks game at home that went from 4-1 to 4-4 in six minutes and then a 5-4 OT loss, they’d be in a lot better shape.”
Throw this Ducks game on the pile with the Red Wings and Utah games for the 2024-25 version of our late-season look back; nine games into the season and they already have three standout losses among the pack. The Islanders are clearly frustrated, but I don’t think anyone has stepped up and said something like “We need to give Ilya Sorokin more goal support because he’s pitched four gems now and we’ve lost three of them, scoring a single goal in just of one of those losses.” It’s just something along the lines of “If we keep playing like that, the results will come.”
Ordinarily, given the underlying numbers, I’d be inclined to agree with that sentiment. But this is the team we’ve seen struggle to score for years; why should we expect the results to be any different?
These guys need to get mad for a change. Playing emotionally isn’t always a great strategy, but last night was the most lifeless 42-shot performance I’ve ever seen. While Patrick Roy tried to snap them out of it last year, it looks like, dare I say, a country club atmosphere. Wake the hell up.
Oh yeah, and the Islanders will do this all over again tonight, visiting the hot and inspired—imagine that!—Columbus Blue Jackets. They’re shooting the lights out at a probably unsustainable pace, which sounds to me like the perfect recipe for a regulation loss.
FIG Picks go here. When in doubt, go with the shutout.
Islanders News
About last night:
- Not good enough is right. [LHH]
- They’re firing shots, but it took a five-on-three (which technically expired right before the goal) to get on the board last night. [Islanders]
- Hudson Fasching made his season debut, and Roy liked what he saw. On the other hand, Pierre Engvall took two penalties, albeit on weak calls, and the Ducks scored on both of those power plays. Roy wasn’t pleased. Check out this “oof”:
Asked Roy about Engvall, who played 9:16:
“He didn’t play a lot. I’m not going on the calls. There’s not much to say.”
Asked Roy about Fasching, who played 7:56:
“I thought he was good. I thought he played well. He did what we were asking for.”#Isles
— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) October 30, 2024
- Roy noted that the team may not have a ton of confidence at the moment with all the missed chances. [Twitter]
- But at the end of the day, they need to put the damn puck in the net. [Newsday]
- And the lack of urgency they display sort of undercuts whatever expression of frustration they might have—in other words, do something about it. [NY Post]
- Mat Barzal was the one who all the writers pointed out as the most visibly frustrated, but he’s right when he says “We know that no one’s feeling sorry for us.” In a way, I kind of do feel bad for them, but they have the power to change that! [THN]
- It wasn’t even the point of Eric Hornick’s note mentioning the fact, but bear in mind the 2021 Islanders—who we all love dearly for their Game 7 Conference Semifinal run—started the season 0-4-1. Despite all the negative feelings we have, it can turn around. [NYI Skinny]
Onward and upward, hopefully:
- A preview of tonight’s game. Semyon Varlamov will be in net for the back-to-back.
- Brock Nelson and Anders Lee remember the late Johnny Gaudreau from playing with him in the World Championships, and Bo Horvat remembers him from battling him frequently as his Western Canadian rival. [THN]
- Lou Lamoriello swore Alex Romanov would only miss the Florida game. Well, he didn’t play again last night, forcing Roy to shorten the bench. We’ll see if he plays tonight. [NY Post]
- Roy admitted that he and Lou are still trying to figure out the bottom six and especially forwards 11 and 12. He also dispelled any notion of a rift between him and Lou. [Newsday]
- Engvall is happy to be back up. [Newsday]
Elsewhere
Last night’s NHL scores include the Capitals handing the Rangers a regulation loss and the Kraken (visiting the Canadiens) and Senators (hosting the Blues) putting up snowmen en route to big wins.
- In Seattle’s win, defenseman Brandon Montour recorded his first career hat trick. [NHL]
- Marc-Andre Fleury, who’s retiring after this season, played and won his final game in Pittsburgh last night. [NHL]
- The Kings scratched Kevin Fiala for missing a team meeting as they lost to the Sharks. [Sportsnet]
- Jakob Chychrun left the Capitals’ win over the Rangers with an upper-body injury. [Sportsnet]
- Utah suffered some significant injuries to its blueline and added Olli Maatta from the Red Wings. [NHL]
- The story of how Seattle assistant coach Jessica Campbell made history as the first woman behind an NHL bench. [ESPN]
- Every NHL team is now worth at least $1 billion. The Islanders are the league’s 15th most valuable team. Middle of the pack on and off the ice! But the middle of the pack is better than the bottom of the pack, like they used to be in everything. [Sportico]