Islanders must play smarter and stop giving away points
The Islanders' Maxim Tsyplakov, left, and Scott Mayfield, right, fight the Rangers' Vincent Trocheck for the puck during the third period of an NHL game on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Pamela Smith
It’s 12 games and two regulation wins into this season, and the Islanders already have an overplayed evaluation of their performances.
“We did a lot of good things tonight,” Bo Horvat said in the latest variation of that theme. “We definitely had our chances. At the end of the day, I’m not trying to make excuses, but we’ve got to get the job done here.”
Yes, they do, and so far, they haven’t.
Now with a depleted roster — and perhaps even before the injuries came in waves — the results have left an open question about whether the Islanders can be a playoff team.
They ended a three-game road trip — the start of a stretch of nine of 11 on the road — with a 5-2 loss to the Rangers on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
There were some strong parts to the Islanders’ game, notably goalie Ilya Sorokin (35 saves), Casey Cizikas’ third line with Pierre Engvall and Simon Holmstrom, and the three regular defensemen who remained healthy: Ryan Pulock (29:24 of ice time), Noah Dobson (24:57) — aside from his turnover that led to a shorthanded goal — and Scott Mayfield (23:00).
“We played a good game,” coach Patrick Roy said, “well enough to win.”
But doesn’t it feel as if the Islanders too often get kudos for just hanging around?
Yes, they were playing without top-liners Mathew Barzal (upper body), Anthony Duclair (lower body) and defenseman Adam Pelech (jaw) — all out four to six weeks — as well as defensemen Alexander Romanov (upper body/day-to- day) and Mike Reilly (upper body but strongly believed to be a concussion).
And yes, it’s true, they definitely had their chances with 37 shots against a brilliant Igor Shesterkin. And also yes, when Brock Nelson brought the Islanders within 3-2 with 8.0 seconds left in the second period, they definitely were in the game.
But special teams won it for the Rangers. The Islanders went 0-for-5 on the power play, allowing Chris Kreider’s shorthanded goal at 3:44 of the first period off Dobson’s ill-advised cross-ice giveaway, and gave up Artemi Panarin’s power-play goal at 11:04 of the second period.
“It’s just a bad play by me,” Dobson said. “I’ll be the first person to tell you that.”
It’s Year 7 of Lou Lamoriello’s tenure as president/general manager and the core of players essentially has stayed the same, though bringing in Horvat, Duclair and Romanov is noteworthy. But if the core is largely similar, so are the problems. The power play has been an annual issue and the penalty kill that troubled the Islanders last season has hurt them tremendously at home this season (3-for-9).
The injuries have exposed a lack of organizational depth.
Case in point: defenseman Samuel Bolduc, though it’s not fair to pick on the 23-year-old.
Bolduc was the seventh defenseman last season but proved untrustworthy with the puck in his zone. He did not make the team out of training camp, but with Pelech, Reilly and Romanov all unavailable, he was summoned from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport along with Grant Hutton.
Reilly Smith took the puck off Bolduc’s stick and fed Vincent Trocheck for a 2-0 lead at 1:21 of the second period. Bolduc played just three more shifts and logged only 5:56.
“It’s sad. Those things happen,” Roy said. “Sam needs to be better. If he wants to play in the NHL, he’s got to have to understand and step up. He’s a good hockey player. He’s got all the tools. Now he just needs to figure it out.”
The Islanders had better hope Romanov can return for Tuesday’s game against the Penguins at UBS Arena.
The thing is, there’s still an incredible amount of time, injuries notwithstanding, for the Islanders to turn this around. They stand at 4-6-2 and the best thing they may have going for them is that there might not be a great team in the Eastern Conference. The Stanley Cup champion Panthers are very good but not quite as good as last season. The Rangers have jumped out to an 8-2-1 start largely because of Shesterkin (and Jonathan Quick).
But the Islanders need to start playing smarter hockey. They need to be more aggressive defensively around their crease and not cede time and space. If they’re consistently going to be in tight games, they can’t give away points.
“We had a lot of looks, a lot of offensive zone time. We were making plays,” Dobson said. “We just gave up a little too much at times not managing the puck. There definitely was some good from the game. We’ve just got to find a way and the power play has to be a lot better. It starts with me.”
No, it’s a team game. And the Islanders have to be more than a team that gets chances but can’t finish.
That’s on Lamoriello to solve.
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.