Same old Isles
For the opening 10 minutes Thursday night, the Islanders played as they have been expected to all season.
By the end of the night, however, it was just the same movie with a slightly better cast. Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Andy Greene and Adam Pelech returned from the COVID-19 protocol, but the Islanders lost for the ninth consecutive time, 2-1 to the Sharks, when Erik Karlsson scored just 39 seconds into overtime.
The Islanders’ first point since early November served as a consolation prize as they dropped to 5-10-3 and are still in search of their first win at their new UBS Arena.
Mathew Barzal started the scoring off just 64 seconds into the game, snapping a shot past Adin Hill from the right circle. The building rocked and the Islanders buzzed around, generating chances.
Barzal was asked about his goal, which broke a streak in which he had scored just one point in 10 games.
“Anytime you score on your first shift, you feel good,” Barzal said. Then he let out a long, deep sigh that betrayed his feelings better than anything he could say.
After that early lead, as in so many of the eight losses that preceded this one, special teams came into play.
This time, it was the penalty kill instead of the power play. A penalty for too many men on the ice led to a San Jose breakthrough seconds after time expired on the penalty, San Jose’s Nick Bonino redirected a feed from Jonathan Dahlen past Ilya Sorokin for the goal after the Islanders failed to clear the zone.
That proved to be the beginning of another loss — this one against not a Stanley Cup contender, but the overachieving Sharks, a team the Islanders are better than on paper.
Though the Sharks couldn’t take the lead in regulation, the second period showed signs of what was coming. The Islanders required Sorokin — who finished the night with 33 saves — to make two sprawling stops with his left pad. That was followed by
Noah Dobson blocking one in the crease early in the period. They took two penalties, and on the first nearly went two minutes without clearing the zone.
The first line of Lee, Barzal and Bailey generated chances, but the Islanders went into the third with the look of a team still trying to figure itself out, trailing in shots by a 26-17 margin.
Barzal had another great chance at the 12-minute mark of the third, getting an open look at Hill, but the Sharks’ goaltender made a clean glove save.
“I think our line started off really well and we felt good tonight,” Lee said. “One of those nights where the chances were coming. All we needed was one more opportunity, one more puck and we were gonna pop one.”
But that opportunity never came, and the Islanders were made to rue those chances just 39 seconds into overtime when Karlsson fed Timo Meier’s pass into an open net, Sorokin having been caught out.
The Islanders did earn a point, something they can try to build on. After the game, they said as much. But make no mistake. They feel a pressure to win.
“We can manage the game a bit better and tighten up,” coach Barry Trotz said, “but these guys have to catch up to the moving train and I think they will be able to do that very shortly.”
Added Adam Pelech: “We definitely could have been better tonight. Could have managed the puck a little better. But I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
On Wednesday, Trotz said the Islanders’ playoffs start now — such is the deficit they’ve created for themselves. Before Thursday’s game, he said: “It still bothers me to no end. Don’t sleep a whole lot when you lose.”
After this latest loss, he said: “It’s a long time since we got a point. So we’ll take a point.”
Perhaps it is a building block. But though they started fast and the first line generated chances, it was the same old lack of scoring that plagued the Islanders. And it was the same result at the end of the night.
When the Islanders next take the ice on Saturday against the Red Wings, it will have been 28 days of poor sleep for their coach.