Islanders in continual search for some offense

Kyle Palmieri of the Islanders misses a scoring chance during the third period against Samuel Ersson of the Philadelphia Flyers at UBS Arena on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The malady has been clinically diagnosed: An inability to consistently sustain momentum from shift to shift, from period to period, from game to game.
So, then, how do the Islanders treat the ailment in order to regain traction in the Eastern Conference playoff race with the March 7 trade deadline looming?
“Sometimes it’s just throwing [pucks at] the net and find a way,” coach Patrick Roy said after practice Friday.
Entering Saturday night’s game at UBS Arena against the Sharks, the Islanders (17-20-7) have lost the first two games of this seven-game homestand, their longest of the season. With 38 games left in their regular season, the Islanders’ 41 points are 15th in the 16-team conference. There are eight teams ahead of them in the wild-card chase.
“It’s on us at the end of the day to do what we can in here and on the ice and in the room to gather this team and push for a playoff spot,” Bo Horvat said after Thursday night’s 5-3 loss to the Flyers.
In that game, Horvat’s power-play goal 9:21 into the first period ended the Islanders’ 0-for-25 drought with the man advantage dating to Dec. 8. Horvat assisted on Anders Lee’s power-play goal at 17:16 of the third period that brought the Islanders within 4-3.
Therein lies a problem that has plagued them throughout the first three months: There has not been nearly enough secondary scoring to augment Lee (20-16-36) and Horvat (14-18-32). Lee has scored at least 20 goals for the ninth time in his career and Horvat is on a 61-point pace
, but the Islanders have received limited production from others.
Kyle Palmieri is third on the team in scoring with 28 points (12 goals and 16 assists). The Smithtown native is followed by Brock Nelson’s 26 points (12 goals and 14 assists).
To be fair, injuries have limited Mathew Barzal (five goals, 14 points) and Anthony Duclair (three goals, six points) to 23 and 16 games, respectively. Roy has spent wide swaths of the season reconfiguring the lineup in order to create what he calls a “spark.” It hasn’t worked.
Entering Friday, the Islanders’ 115 goals were fourth-fewest in the NHL and their average of 2.61 goals per game was sixth-worst. What needs to improve?
“We need to control the puck more. I don’t think we’re getting enough offensive zone time,” Duclair said before the loss to the Flyers. “I think we need to hound pucks a little more.”
Notes & quotes: Max Tsyplakov was suspended for three games for an illegal check to the head of Philadelphia’s Ryan Poehling, the league’s department of player safety announced. He will forfeit $14,843.76 in pay.
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