Islanders players back coach Lane Lambert, but lose sixth straight in Ottawa
Senators left wing Parker Kelly and Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield collide along the boards during the first period of an NHL game on Wednesday in Ottawa, Ontario. Credit: The Canadian Press via AP/Adrian Wyld
OTTAWA — Islanders’ players voiced their support for Lane Lambert after president/general Lou Lamoriello gave his first-year coach a vote of confidence.
And then the Islanders went out and struggled again offensively to lose a season-worst sixth straight game. The Senators won 2-1 on Wednesday night at Canadian Tire Center as the Islanders (23-22-5) had their skid extended to 1-7-3 as they spiral further away from playoff contention.
“We made a pretty good press at the end,” said All-Star Brock Nelson, who extended his point streak to four games as he scored the Islanders’ lone goal at 16:07 of the second period to halve the deficit. “It hurts, just like every other one does. I thought Varly played really well. We’d like to help him out.”
Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves but the Islanders have now been outscored 36-18 over the last 11 games and been held to two or fewer goals in 10 of those games. They went 0-for-3 on the power play and are now 3-for-59 on the man advantage over the last 22 games, including 0-for-20 in their last eight.
And they were held without a third-period goal for the 11th straight game as they could not rally against the Senators (21-23-3), who had lost four of five.
“We’ve never really doubted the coaching staff,” Anthony Beauvillier said. “We’re all in this together. We’re a big family. We want to get out of it together. There was never the thought of changes or anything like that. We feel like we’re a good team and we’ve proven that in the past.”
Lamoriello hasn’t relieved a coach of his duties during the season since firing Pete DeBoer as Devils coach on Dec. 26, 2014. But that marked the ninth time he made an in-season move behind the bench as Devils president/general manager, twice stepping in as coach himself.
“We find out about it [the vote of confidence] through you guys,” captain Anders Lee said of the media. “I don’t think it’s something that’s even talked about on our end. It seems like it’s a question asked throughout the league when teams aren’t doing well. And then the GM has got to say something.
“I know his belief in Lane and we have it with ourselves in this group and with our coaching staff. Those aren’t the reasons why we’ve struggled. It’s been a group effort.”
The Islanders trailed 1-0 at 15:48 of the first period when Franklin Square’s Shane Pinto scored his first career goal against his hometown team. Claude Giroux’s power-play goal at 3:28 of the second period made it 2-0. Anton Forsberg (21 saves) replaced Cam Talbot (14 saves) at 8:05 of the second period after the starter exited with a lower-body injury.
Notes & quotes: Defenseman Noah Dobson missed a second straight game with an unspecified injury . . . Rookie Aatu Raty played in his 10th NHL game, meaning this season will be the first that counts toward his three-year, $2.8 million entry-level contract . . . Rookie defenseman Samuel Bolduc, playing in his second NHL game, was inserted as the quarterback on the first power-play unit.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
