Isles face trouble on all sides
Maybe the Islanders can find a reprieve north of the border.
That is the mandate as they head into a two-game trip through Toronto then Ottawa which doubles as an attempt to put their season back together with duct tape and superglue. They are not yet out of the playoff race, and a winning streak can still change the equation. But they are certainly down for the count after losing eight of nine games, with just two victories in the month of January.
No longer are the Islanders chasing the Capitals and Penguins for the last wild-card spot — they are also dealing with the Panthers and Sabres and even the Flyers and Red Wings. Florida jumped ahead of the Islanders on a tiebreaker following Saturday’s games, and the Sabres could soon do the same with two games in hand and two points to make up. The Flyers are four points back with a game in hand. The Red Wings are five points back with three in hand.
All this, by the way, and the Isles still do need to keep an eye on Washington and Pittsburgh because those are the teams actually in a playoff spot.
“We just have to find a way to fight through it, that’s all it is,” coach Lane Lambert said after Saturday’s 5-2 home loss to the Hurricanes. “The games are coming. We need wins. We have to find a way to find those victories.”
The Islanders played six of seven games at home over the last two weeks, winning only against the last-place Canadiens. Following Saturday’s match against Carolina, conversation turned to the coach, who is taking on an embattled look just 48 games into his first season behind an NHL bench.
“It’s been probably a mixed bag,” Brock Nelson said of Lambert’s demeanor. “There’s games where we didn’t play well, him and the guys were all upset, rightfully so. And there’s been games where we’ve played well and he’s positive. It’s always gonna be a roller coaster. Right now, it just seems like we’ve been close but we still haven’t got [it]. I still think Laner, and everyone, believes we can turn it around.”
As players and coaches, it is of course their mandate to believe that, no matter what the standings say. That is why Nelson and Josh Bailey alike summarily dismissed questions about the possibility that the Islanders’ core — which was kept together following last year’s disappointing playoff miss — will be broken up if they can’t turn it around.
“It’s not something I waste time thinking about,” Bailey said. “No point in worrying about that stuff down the road. Let’s focus on finding the answers to what’s going on.”
Right now, though, it is hard to make excuses in the way the Islanders could last season, when a long road trip followed by a COVID-19 outbreak fundamentally set back their playoff hopes. They’ve had no shortage of injuries, and it is still not clear when Adam Pelech, Kyle Palmieri, Oliver Wahlstrom, Cal Clutterbuck or Hudson Fasching will return. But the issues seem to go beyond that.
If they can’t turn it around, that might force an uncomfortable reality upon general manager Lou Lamoriello as trade season heats up in February.
“It’s been a tough stretch here,” captain Anders Lee said. “The mood’s down after the game. This sucks. So we gotta just find a way to find some life, find some energy and continue to build our game. That’s all you can do.”