Islanders' identity crisis continues to haunt them
A shot by Nashville Predators defenseman Alexandre Carrier gets past New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin (30) for the go-ahead goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. The Predators won 3-1. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski) Credit: AP/Mark Zaleski
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A chat with an NHL scout recently elicited this to-the-point analysis of the Islanders: “No identity.”
The Islanders will continue a four-game road trip on Monday night against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center after opening the trek with a loss that exemplified the scout’s criticism.
They played a very sound defensive game until a nearly incomprehensible final minute that cost them a 3-1 loss to the Predators on Saturday night. Coach Lane Lambert called the ending a “calamity of errors,” though he certainly had a major hand in its construction.
So no, the Islanders’ identity is not a team that closes out games, as it was when they went to back-to-back NHL semifinals in 2020 and 2021 under Barry Trotz. Nor is it a team that can count on its offense to consistently win games, though the emphasis has been on pushing up the ice more than in the past.
They entered Sunday tied for 19th in the NHL with 127 goals scored and 3.02 goals per game. The Islanders’ goal differential of minus-13 was the worst among the 16 teams that held playoff spots at the start of Sunday’s play.
And though the Islanders are second in the NHL with 20.0 hits per game — second to the Predators’ 22.33 — according to NaturalStatTrick.com, the eye test shows that they no longer are the dominant physical presence they were in seasons past in wearing down the opposition with their forecheck.
Unfortunately for the Islanders, if there’s any identity to be had right now, it’s inconsistency in their play and results.
They have not won back-to-back games since Dec. 11-13, the back half of a season-high four-game winning streak. Since then, they are 5-6-3. They are not necessarily a good road team either, as they’ve gone 1-3-1 in the new year and 8-8-4 for the season.
“I thought the first period was pretty good, we possessed it,” right wing Kyle Palmieri said of Saturday’s sudden loss. “Had a couple of looks. They did a good job of clearing their net front. I thought, for the most part, we managed the puck well. Just didn’t get the result. That’s a tough one.”
The Islanders limited the Predators to 13 shots through the first two periods, then gave up 15 in the third period, which was supposed to be when they were tightening their hatches.
Instead, the Islanders’ goal differential in third periods and overtimes fell to minus-14. The game was scoreless entering the third period, so the Islanders fell to 3-3-4 in games tied after the second period.
So let’s dissect what happened in the final minute and, perhaps, why.
Matt Martin, under pressure from Ryan O’Reilly, tried and failed to clear the puck toward center ice after he got it on the right wall. Filip Forsberg stepped up at the Islanders’ blue line to grab the puck, which eventually got to defenseman Alexandre Carrier. He was left wide open just above the circles and blasted a shot that splintered Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield’s stick and popped over goalie Ilya Sorokin with 7.9 seconds left after Mayfield tried to kick out his left leg to block the shot.
It was curious to see Martin as well as Mathew Barzal on the ice alongside Mayfield, defenseman Adam Pelech and Jean-Gabriel Pageau as the seconds ticked down and the Islanders tried to get to overtime.
Meanwhile, after radically revamping his lines to good effect in Thursday’s 4-3 overtime win over the Maple Leafs at UBS Arena, Lambert reunited his original top two lines of Bo Horvat with Anders Lee and Barzal and Brock Nelson with Palmieri and Pierre Engvall in the third period.
“Turnovers in the defensive zone, we take a penalty,” defenseman Noah Dobson said, listing the third-period issues. “Kind of the same thing at the end. Obviously, we’d like to have those moments back, for sure.”
Fifty-nine minutes of those moments were solid Saturday. But until the Islanders build a stronger identity, there may be more repeats of the final minute.
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.
