FALLING FAST
Wheels come off for Isles again in loss to Devs
The Islanders’ biggest obstacle in the playoff chase right now is not the Red Wings or Capitals, though they’ll need to clear both teams in the standings to get in. Nor is it the Flyers, who appear to be putting enough distance between themselves and the Islanders to make third place in the Metropolitan Division a distant objective.
No, at this point in the season — 11 games remaining and the Islanders needing everything they can gather to mount a push — their biggest enemy appears to be themselves. That is the only conclusion left after a disastrous and self-defeating 4-0 loss on Sunday against the Devils marked the ninth time in nine tries that the Islanders have failed to win on the second end of a back-to-back.
“We’re in our building. We need to play better than this,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Our fans deserve better than what we’ve been showing. These are big games and you have to find ways to win these games.”
Even right after Saturday’s 6-3 win over the Jets in which everything fired on all cylinders, there was a veneer of caution in the Islanders’ dressing room. It was not so much about the win but about figuring out a way to keep it going. By now, the Islanders know themselves well enough to be aware that is their problem.
But that doesn’t mean they’ve found a way to fix it.
Sunday instead featured Lucy pulling away the football as the Islanders succumbed to their own mistakes and watched two points slip through their fingers on a day they could not afford for that to happen.
“I think it’s mindset,” Ryan Pulock said. “I think everyone’s in good enough shape to play back-to-back days. We played at 1 o’clock yesterday. We had time. You might not have your best legs, but you have to make sure you’re sharp mentally.”
Have the Islanders been sharp enough mentally?
“No,” Pulock said.
Roy concurred.
“I feel like it’s been like this for a while,” he said. “We always have some moments where mentally we’re making mistakes or bad coverage or call it as you wish. It hurts us at the wrong time.”
The wheels were loosened at the end of a first period in which the Isles failed to convert during 3:58 of powerplay time and committed three consecutive penalties in the final 2:12. Then they came off completely in a shambolic second which saw the Devs score three goals in the first 6:12 and Isles captain Anders Lee get himself thrown out of the match courtesy of a dirty hit on Nico Hischier.
After Timo Meier’s fiveon-three goal, the Islanders put themselves front and center on the blooper reel as Kyle Palmieri, Bo Horvat and Noah Dobson collided in the offensive zone to give the Devils a two-on-one breakaway, which Jack Hughes easily converted.
“Three guys almost bump into each other when it should have been a very plain and simple play,” Roy said. “We need to find a way to get that mental side of the game in the right place. You cannot have moments like this in a game. It doesn’t work. You won’t win those games.”
A few minutes later, Lee lost a puck battle to rookie defenseman Simon Nemec, who easily slid it across the ice to Alexander Holtz to make it 3-0.
Before the period was over, Lee had made things worse by sticking his knee out to connect with Hischier’s, resulting in a game misconduct and a pair of five-minute majors, with Meier — who jumped in to fight the Isles’ captain — also picking up a fighting major and 10-minute misconduct for instigating.
Chris Tierney added an empty-net goal for the Devils late in the third.
It all added up to one of the most spectacular meltdowns the Islanders have had on home ice all season, at a moment when they absolutely could not afford one.
Lee’s hit could also result in supplemental discipline from the league, which would further hurt the Islanders during a crucial three-game road trip that begins on Thursday against the Panthers.
Thanks to the resurgent Capitals beating Winnipeg, the Islanders are now four points out of a playoff spot with one fewer game left than Washington. They stayed three points behind Detroit, which did not play Sunday but ceded their game in hand without gaining ground. In other words: the math does not favor them.
Neither does anything they showed on the ice Sunday.