Islanders' Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri in lineup against Winnipeg
Islanders center Brock Nelson celebrates after scoring against the Minnesota Wild during the second period of an NHL game Saturday in St. Paul, Minn. Credit: AP/Bailey Hillesheim
Everybody else may be writing off the Islanders’ season but the team itself would beg to differ.
The Islanders entered Tuesday night’s match against the NHL-leading Jets — their last before Friday’s NHL trade deadline — coming off Monday night’s very damaging 4-0 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
But, very notably, pending unrestricted free agents Brock Nelson — No. 1 on most trade target projection boards — and Kyle Palmieri both remained in the lineup on Tuesday as president/general manager Lou Lamoriello opted not to hold his assets out for protection. Nor, for that matter, was any other potential trade target protected. And Palmieri and Nelson scored the Islanders' first two goals.
“This is a good group,” coach Patrick Roy said. “This is a group that cares. We all know where we are. The guys are not looking for excuses. A lot of people would already use them. We have plenty of excuses. The injuries, the number of guys we’ve missed all year. Barzy (Mathew Barzal) playing just a certain number of games. It’s hard when you’re losing your top players and defense. . They were bad injuries. They were gone for six, seven weeks.”
Monday’s loss left the Islanders five points out of the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot entering Tuesday’s play and seven teams ahead of them in the chase for the two wild-card berths.
“We’re not happy to be where we are,” Roy said.
The loss to the Rangers — their second in regulation to their rivals in seven days — also left the Islanders with a 2-3-0 mark since returning from the NHL’s two-week break for the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off tournament and 3-6-0 since their season’s best seven-game winning streak.
There’s also the very open-ended question of which players might have been playing their final game as Islanders on Tuesday. For Nelson, it was his 901st game, moving him past Bobby Nystrom and into sole possession of fourth place on the Islanders’ all-time list.
Still, through all of that, there was still a strong belief they should not be counted out just yet.
“I just don’t think we’ve played like we’re [2-3] after the break but that’s what it is,” captain Anders Lee said. “That’s the reality of it, unfortunately. So we’ve just got to push through it. We have to.”
Lee, speaking minutes after the loss to the Rangers became final, was asked if such defeats could become demoralizing. Defenseman Ryan Pulock, asked the same thing, had answered yes.
“You never like coming into the room after a game like this and not putting anything on the board and losing a big hockey game,” Lee said. “It sits with you for sure. There’s always a level of something that doesn’t feel right. How do you, individually and as a group, come back together and continue to play the best that you can?”
Roy, who makes no pretenses of his preference to always remain positive, often praises his group’s resiliency.
As proof, he frequently references last season when the Islanders used an 8-0-1 spurt at the end of the regular season to finish third in the Metropolitan Division.
He did so again after Monday’s loss to the Rangers when asked about time running short for the Islanders this season.
“We know where we are in the standings,” Roy said. “But, at the same time, this is a group that is resilient and we’re going to continue to work hard. We’re going to continue to push. How many times last year did I have to answer that question and we made the playoffs? We’re certainly going to keep battling.”
Notes & quotes: Struggling top-liner Anthony Duclair drew back in after being a healthy scratch for the first time this season against the Rangers. He has just one goal and no assists in his last 11 games as he plays through a suspected groin issue that sidelined him for 28 games from Oct. 22-Dec. 17. “He knows his game needs to be at another level,” Roy said. “Obviously the injury was a big deal. When he came back he was behind." . . . Roy reverted to dressing the usual 12 forwards and six defensemen after going with 11 and seven against the Rangers. Defenseman Adam Boqvist came out of the lineup as a healthy scratch.
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.
