Islanders enter All-Star break far from playoffs, uncertain of future
Mathew Barzal of the Islanders reacts after his team's 4-3 loss against the Wild at UBS Arena on Jan. 30. Credit: Getty Images/Steven Ryan
With the Islanders stumbling into the All-Star break, it’s time to assess the state of the team at essentially the season’s midpoint.
Simply put: It’s not good.
The Islanders entered this season with prognosticators and those within the organization conferring Stanley Cup-or-bust status on the group after back-to-back losses to the two-time eventual Cup champion Lightning in the NHL semifinals.
But Wednesday’s disheartening and, worse, uninterested 3-0 loss to the expansion Seattle Kraken to end a stretch of 14 of 15 at UBS Arena left the Islanders under NHL .500 at 16-17-6 and 17 points behind the Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card spot. They have lost four of their last six in regulation, even after stalwart defenseman Ryan Pulock’s return from a foot injury that kept him out since Nov. 15 finally made the roster whole again on Tuesday.
Their chances of qualifying for the playoffs have declined to 4.9%, per hockeyreference.com.
Glass half-full? With 43 games left, there’s still plenty of time to make up ground.
Glass half-empty? It’s fair to question whether this roster can do it after the first-half struggles.
The team must manage the puck better and there hasn’t been enough goal-scoring or power-play production at times. Kyle Palmieri, signed to a four-year, $20 million deal, has one goal and six assists.
"It’s a lot of hockey left," said Josh Bailey, who has three goals to go with his 17 assists. "Clear our heads here and come back ready to work. You’ve got to move forward and with a positive mindset, and there’s certainly still that belief in the room that we can do what we need to do."
Mathew Barzal leads the Islanders in scoring with 10 goals and 18 assists.
"It’s going to be a steep hill to climb to get in it," said Brock Nelson, who has a team-high 14 goals. "I know all the group here has confidence in each other. We’ve done it before. We’ve just got to go out there and lay it on the line."
It would be impossible to have a weirder half-season than the Islanders just had.
It started with a franchise-record 13-game road trip to allow time for construction on UBS Arena to be completed.
The trip was divided into four segments but included a stretch of one game in 10 days, followed quickly by a stretch of one game in seven days. Finding any rhythm to their game proved impossible.
And just as the trip was wrapping up, the COVID-19 cases started. Anders Lee, Bailey, Ross Johnston and defensemen Andy Greene and Adam Pelech were all in protocol when the $1.1 billion UBS Arena opened with a 5-2 loss to the Flames on Nov. 20. Anthony Beauvillier also missed the game, though he wound up with a false positive.
The Islanders lost eight straight in regulation from Nov. 7-26 and suffered through an 0-8-3 losing streak overall, often playing with a hybrid NHL/AHL roster.
More inactivity followed in late December and early January through nine postponed games and 13 games rescheduled overall. The Islanders played only three times in 27 days from Dec. 17-Jan. 12, leaving coach Barry Trotz to say, more than once, that it felt as if they weren’t even in the NHL anymore.
Even Trotz missed three straight games from Jan. 1-15, the first to mourn the passing of his mother and the last two while in COVID-19 protocol.
Can the Islanders overcome their rocky first half and put together a strong second half of the season?
It’s an open question.
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.
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