The Isles limp home waiting for more injury news.
The Islanders’ win streak came to an end in Florida, pretty much as expected, but they’ll take leaving the state with a split from their back-to-back visit.
The challenge, of course, is that they’d already dug themselves a big standings hole that a seven-game wins streak does not fix, the injuries continue to pile up, and their remaining three games before the 4 Nations are against really tough opponents and include a border-crossing back-to-back.
Odds are, this season returns to the trajectory they’ve been on all along, but that win streak was a fun run. It helped level out some bounces. And ironically, the blueline injuries have paved the way for some smooth skating and puck-moving ability they’ve been lacking. Meanwhile, the resurrected penalty kill has continued to fix one of the major areas that kept them from stringing wins together in the first three months of the season.
Islanders News
- Not exactly reassuring that we don’t have updates yet on Mat Barzal or Scott Mayfield. [Newsday | THN]
- About last night: Tough result for Jakub Skarek, who’s “dreamt about this since I started hockey.” But this was about as much a scheduled loss as any game on the calendar — the second end of a back-to-back with their fourth-string goalie making his NHL debut and with a laundry list of regulars out on the road against the defending Stanley Cup champs. [Post | Newsday]
- They looked tired, but for 15 minutes they made a game of it. [LHH]
- Roy: Too many turnovers. [Isles]
- Lou Lamoriello talked a bit about the new additions, three blueliners and a Gatcomb. [Isles]
- Fan survey: A poll with 1,000 Athletic reader respondents showed not a lot of faith in Lou. [Athletic]
Elsewhere
Sunday’s other NHL scores here.