Islanders’ offense is missing again in home loss to Flyers

In the biggest game so far this season, the Islanders offense came up small again.

A 4-1 loss to the Flyers on Monday night now has the Isles, who have lost three straight in regulation and have just four points in their last seven (1-4-2), looking down in the standings rather than up.

They are now just three points ahead of the ninth-place Flyers, the same gap between the Islanders and the Penguins, who sit third in the Metro. The Islanders still have 11 games to go, more than any other team in the East except Philadelphia, but the way the offense has slowed to a crawl the past two weeks doesn’t instill much confidence that the team can find its way again, having scored just 11 times in the last seven.

“This time of year, you’re supposed to be playing your best,” Frans Nielsen said. “For some reason, we’re not.”

Kyle Okposo’s 20th of the season tied the game at 3:54 of the second, just 90 seconds after Nick Cousins opened the scoring. But that was the extent of the Isles offense, which mustered only 24 shots on Steve Mason — 18 in the final 55 minutes of the game after a spirited start to the night in Barclays Center.

It was a bad bit of luck that put the Isles behind for good. Brandon Manning exited the penalty box for the Flyers and collected an Andrew MacDonald clear that would have gone for an icing had it not hit linesman Scott Cherrey and settled perfectly for Manning, who beat Thomas Greiss on the rush at 13:01 of the second.

That was all the Flyers needed. The Islanders didn’t get much going in the third and Sam Gagner’s goal after a few ghastly Isles miskates at 4:22 effectively ended matters. Brock Nelson, who is second on the team with 23 goals, was stopped on a power play rebound try just before Manning scored and looked lost the rest of the night.

He wasn’t alone.

“You can’t have 4-5 guys struggling this time of year and expect to win,” said Jack Capuano, who sounded perplexed rather than angry at yet another no-show by several of his core scorers. “Hopefully those guys can get going but it’s getting a little late.”

The Islanders are still in control of their playoff destiny with those 11 games remaining. But Nelson (two goals in 15 games), Anders Lee (no goals in seven), Ryan Strome (one point in 16), Nikolay Kulemin (one point in 20) and Shane Prince (one point in 10) don’t seem to be in control of their offensive capabilities and that is too many drought-stricken forwards to replace.

Even John Tavares, who reached the 500-game mark on Monday, had another quiet night, leaving him without a goal in five games. That shouldn’t be a killer, but as Capuano put it, “the support for him is nonexistent.”

“We finally got a few (power plays) tonight but we have to make some plays,” said Tavares of the 0-for-3 night with the advantage, including two in a scoreless first. “Obviously we haven’t played well the last few games. I believe in this group. We’ve done some good things. We need to play better and it starts with myself, with me playing a lot better and the team elevating its game.”