Islanders enter second half of season with a bit of normalcy
The Islanders' Brock Nelson and the Oilers' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins vie for the puck during the first period of an NHL game Friday in Edmonton, Alberta. Credit: AP/JASON FRANSON
The odds are the second half of the Islanders’ season, which began on Saturday night against the Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, won’t be nearly as odd as the rocky first half.
Between COVID-19 outbreaks, very lengthy road trips, very lengthy homestands and a slew of postponements, the Islanders’ first 41 games was unlike anything the team’s personnel had previously encountered. And that’s saying something in a pandemic.
Yet, if there’s some comfort for the Islanders as they try to make a long-shot push for the playoffs — they opened play on Saturday 17 points out of the Eastern Conference’s final spot — it’s that things can’t get any stranger.
"You know, we’re really not thinking too much about that stuff," Josh Bailey said before Saturday’s game. "It’s more focusing on what’s in front of us here. I think that’s been our mindset. We’re moving forward and approaching each day with the right mentality."
The match against the Flames marked the third stop of a four-game road trip, the first time the Islanders have played consecutive games on the road since concluding a season-opening, 13-game road trip on Nov. 16.
That was also the day Bailey became the first in a long line of Islanders to test positive for COVID-19. The Islanders opened UBS Arena with a 5-2 loss to the Flames on Nov. 20 missing Bailey, captain Anders Lee, Ross Johnston, defensemen Andy Greene and Adam Pelech as well as Anthony Beauvillier, who had an inconclusive test but wound up negative.
Even coach Barry Trotz missed three games from Jan. 1-15, the latter two while asymptomatic in COVID-19 protocol and the first to mourn the passing of his mother.
"You hope that’s not the case," Trotz said when asked if he could imagine the second half being any odder than the first half. "It has been (odd). I’m not going to lie. It’s not excuses. But it has a been a very difficult, roller coaster ride this year almost from training camp. I thought we had an excellent training camp. We started the season on the road, got stopped. COVID. There’s been a lot of things. There’s no excuses but it has been a more trying sort of year than I would have expected.
"But that’s life. Personally, for myself, I had some things happen. Life is not always rose petals. Sometimes you’ve got to go through some of the mud and the muck that life has. Just like life, hockey has a little bit of that. You just try to keep a really good attitude. Keep your focus on what’s important as a team and just go forward."
So if the Islanders aren’t necessarily looking at the second half of the season as a clean slate, at least they expect it to be a cleaner slate.
Yet it will be just as difficult in other degrees.
Twenty-four of the final 41 games will be against teams currently holding one of the 16 playoff positions, including 12 of their last 16 games, and the Islanders fared poorly against the NHL’s elite in the first half of the season.
Entering Saturday, the Islanders were a dismal 2-14-2 against teams holding postseason positions and had been outscored, 61-30, in those games.
The Islanders will also play 10 of their last 16 games on the road in April.
"If we have these types of efforts every night, we’re going to get our results," Trotz said after Friday’s 3-1 loss in Edmonton in which the Islanders created 10 high-danger chances and numerous odd-man rushes but couldn’t finish. "The attitude of the group is very encouraging."
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.
