Islanders' fate rests in players' hands
Kyle Palmieri #21 of the Islanders skates against the Winnipeg Jets at UBS Arena on Tuesday, Mar. 4, 2025. Credit: Jim McIsaac
LOS ANGELES
This is now on the players.
The wisdom of what Islanders president/general manager Lou Lamoriello did (trade Brock Nelson after trying to re-sign him) or did not do (make any other significant moves) can be debated ad infinitum. But Friday’s NHL trade deadline has come and gone. Lamoriello is out of the equation until the offseason.
Whether the Islanders can make a long-shot run to the playoffs now is solely dependent on how the players perform (plus some coaching decisions here and there from Patrick Roy). The players wanted this opportunity. Lamoriello gave it to them.
So far, the players have fumbled it away, much as they’ve done with the puck their last two games.
Although they had three days to acclimate to the time change to the West Coast, their three-game California trip opened with a strangely dispassionate, disengaged performance, at least in the first period, that still yielded a 4-2 win over the NHL-worst Sharks on Saturday.
Sunday brought a similar lack of physicality or ability to play a connected game with the puck against the fast Ducks, resulting in a 4-1 loss and spoiling goalie Marcus Hogberg’s fine effort in his first start since Jan. 25 as he returned from a hand injury.
“There were a lot of things missing,” said Kyle Palmieri, on track to get a contract extension from Lamoriello. “Execution, just in general. It wasn’t a good start. Hogy gave us a chance to find our way and try and get back into the game. We weren’t able to do it. There’s definitely a few things missing.”
After Monday’s off day, the Islanders will conclude the trip against the Kings — who are 20-3-4 at home — on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The Islanders are five points behind Columbus for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. The Rangers, Red Wings, Canadiens and Bruins also are ahead of the Islanders in the battle for the playoff spot.
The onus is 100% on the players to find whatever necessary spark is required. There needs to be some well-placed heavy checks thrown on the first few shifts. There needs to be energy in front of expected starter Ilya Sorokin.
The players must show, with 19 games left in the regular season, that they want to be a part of the tight playoff chase.
“We don’t have any other option,” Palmieri said. “We need every point, win, everything we can get right now. Reset. It was a tough back-to-back. Find a way to regroup and get ourselves ready to go for Tuesday.”
The Islanders still can get a maximum of 103 points. Last season, the playoff cutoff in the Eastern Conference was 91 points.
And last season, the Islanders needed an 8-0-1 finish to place third in the Metropolitan Division.
So Roy had a ready answer when asked how damaging Sunday’s loss was.
“Focus on the next game, that’s the way we do it,” he said. “I’ve been asked that question a million times.”
The real question is how engaged the players will be.
This is on them now.
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.