Isles drop 6th straight at home

WITH JUST three wins in the Islanders’ last 12 games and no home wins in March, one must seriously wonder if it’s time for the Isles to press the panic button.

The Isles dropped another game at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday, this one, 3-2, to the Kings. A poor clearing effort by the entire team − particularly Kyle Okposo − led to a late third period Anze Kopitar goal to seal it for Los Angeles. The Isles have now dropped six straight at home.

“We can’t sit back at this point in the season and be happy (about) where we are. We haven’t done anything,” Travis Hamonic said. “There are teams right behind us. I don’t know who won tonight, but there’s teams right behind us and we’ve got to realize what’s at stake.”

With their win in Ottawa, the Rangers (101 points) clinched a playoff berth and are now a commanding eight points ahead of the Isles (44-26-5, 93 points) for first place in the division. The Penguins (91 points) − who have also played terribly of late − dropped a 5-2 clunker to a lousy Carolina team, while the Capitals (90 points) crept closer in the division with a 3-2 overtime win over the Devils. The Isles remain eight points ahead of the Senators and Bruins for the final wild-card spot.

“Clearly we have to be a lot better, starting with myself,” said John Tavares, who played one of his worst games of the season. “I know that I have not played close to my best the last couple of games, certainly tonight.”

A Tyler Toffoli short-handed goal off a poor backcheck from Tavares put the Kings ahead at 3:31 of the third period, but a Johnny Boychuk power-play goal from the point knotted things, 2-2, less than two minutes later. The ice would tilt back toward Los Angeles — who are fighting for their playoff lives and now have completed a New York-New Jersey sweep of the Devils (Monday, 3-1), Rangers (Tuesday, 4-2) and Islanders in their three-game winning streak − in the latter half of the period, culminating in Kopitar’s goal with 4:23 to play.

Typically positive after losses, Jack Capuano did little to hide his disgust. “We try to be fancy, we try to make the sexy plays and all of the sudden it’s in the back of your net,” Capuano said. “You know what? You can’t just turn a switch on and off. I’ve seen enough of some of these guys playing like that.”

The home stretch doesn’t get any easier with the Ducks and the Red Wings in town on Saturday and Sunday. “It’s certainly a big weekend in here coming up, but we’re not hitting panic buttons, we’re not freaking out,” Hamonic said. “It’s certainly not the last twoweek stretch that we wanted, but rather face adversity now than if we get into the playoffs.”

Nobody was saying “if” two weeks ago.