Andrew Gross: Islanders' flaws are starting to show at the wrong time
New York Islanders center Bo Horvat looks on before a face-off against the Buffalo Sabres in the third period of an NHL hockey game at UBS Arena on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Islanders have been such a feel-good story this season that it’s been tempting to overlook the flaws.
But those cracks have continued to deepen. They are the focus now. The goaltending has not been as good. The defensive play has not been as good. The defense depth now with Ryan Pulock (upper body) out has become a bigger problem. Only one goal was produced in the previous two games and four of the last five ended with the Islanders scoring two goals or fewer. The power play continues to be ineffective.
It’s why Monday night’s match against the Flyers in Philadelphia and the day’s news of a potential trade with the rival Rangers for defenseman Carson Soucy felt like a significant tipping point to the season.
A loss at Xfinity Mobile Arena would knock the Islanders out of a playoff spot and be their third straight. And it would come in the game after coach Patrick Roy laid down a gauntlet by benching Mathew Barzal’s line with Anthony Duclair and captain Anders Lee for the third period of Saturday’s 5-0 loss to the Sabres at UBS Arena. Getting no response on Monday from his squad would not reflect well on Roy.
“It is a massive game for us,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said after Monday’s morning skate. “If we lose, we’re out of the playoffs and [the Flyers] tie us up in points. We all know what’s at stake.”
The Islanders also knew the stakes when they returned home on Saturday after a 3-3-1 road trip that would have looked much better if it hadn’t of ended with a dud of a 4-1 loss to the Kraken. But the Sabres, who certainly look like a playoff team now as they try to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2011, methodically took advantage of the Islanders’ mistakes to run up the score on backup goalie David Rittich.
That included Barzal and Duclair’s weak backchecking efforts on Tage Thompson’s goal with 12.9 seconds left in the second period that led to that line’s benching.
Roy did the right thing sitting them because players do need to be held accountable.
But now it becomes a test of whether the players are going to continue to listen to Roy.
“This morning, we talk about where are we in the standings and where they are. That’s the start,” Roy said after the morning skate. “But after that, it’s about how we want to play our game.
“Yeah, you want to have that joy or that compassion. But, tonight, it’s about swagger and playing a solid, 200-foot game, basically.”
Drafting Matthew Schaefer, 18, first overall and watching him immediately develop into not only a No. 1 defenseman and power-play quarterback for the team but one of the most impactful blue-liners in the NHL delivered both swagger and the feel-good element to the organization. Having a new era of openness and transparency with Mathieu Darche in his first season as vice president/general manager helped grow the positive feelings about the Islanders.
But Schaefer, a season potentially worthy of Vezina and Hart Trophy consideration for goalie Ilya Sorokin and good feelings can only take the Islanders so far in the standings.
Losing physical defenseman Alexander Romanov to a season-ending right shoulder injury on Nov. 18 has been something the Islanders have yet to overcome. Now losing Pulock for however many games might be too much for the defense corps.
The well-traveled Soucy, 31, in the final season of a three-year, $9.75 million deal, is a Band-Aid, at best. The lefthanded shot has three goals and five assists with 18 penalty minutes in 46 games for the Rangers, his fourth NHL stop. The Islanders would be his fifth and, almost certainly, there will be a sixth next season.
But acquiring a defenseman was a necessary move with the season potentially tipping the wrong way.
“No pressure,” defenseman Tony DeAngelo said after the morning skate. “There needs to be urgency. But you can’t start putting pressure on yourself, guys will make mistakes. We don’t need to overthink anything. It’s obviously not just another game. It’s a big game. But it’s a game to keep doing the things we do best.”
Correcting the flaws is more like it.
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.
