Islanders upset with poor performance against Devils

Anyone that thinks these last remaining games are meaningless for the Islanders did not witness a despondent dressing room after the team's 7-1 loss.

Veteran Jon Sim stressed the need for the team to remain prepared regardless of their place in the standings and said he shared the blame for such a poor effort.

"We've got to be professional and be ready from the start. It doesn't matter if we're out of the playoffs, we have to play the game. There  are 82 games in the schedule. That was one that I don't think we were ready to play," Sim said. "Including myself."

"Right from the start, we didn't play.  They pushed us hard and we really didn't have an answer for them," Sim said. "Just because we're out of the playoffs, that's no excuse, we've got to be professional and when that puck drops be ready to play the game."

Goaltender Martin Biron, who gave up 7 goals on 37 shots, lamented similar disappointment.

"You're playing the game to win and so you can have fun playing it," he said. " And that was not fun tonight."

After the game, Scott Gordon acknowledged it was not Biron's best game, but said he did not consider pulling him.

"I had already decided Roli would play tomorrow and I wanted him ready to play. I didn't know what the rest of the game would bring and I didn't want to subject Roli to it knowing that we weren't going to have the type of effort we needed.

***Sean Bergenheim did not return to the game after suffering an upper-body injury during the second period. He is not expected to play tomorrow.