Islanders sink to new low with overtime loss to Blackhawks to end disaster road trip
CHICAGO This looks a whole lot like rock bottom for the Islanders.
The teams road trip from hell was capped off by a 4-3 overtime loss to the Blackhawks a team that more closely resembles a band of AHL misfits with much of its lineup injured on Friday night at the United Center after Seth Joness game-winner 21 seconds into the extra session.
The defeat pushes the Islanders losing strea to four and their record since Dec. 31 to an abysmal 2-6-2. With the Devils beating the Blue Jackets, it also dropped the Islanders to sixth place in the Metropolitan Division.
And it turns up the heat under coach Lane Lamberts seat to a boiling point.
We keep saying unacceptable this, unacceptable that. We just got to come out on time and play like we did in the third for a full 60 minutes and win games, Matt Martin told The Post. Enoughs enough.
4The Blackhawks celebrate after defeating the Islanders 4-3 in overtime at the United Center. NHLI via Getty ImagesThats all of us. Including myself. Mental errors, the attention to detail is not there all the time. And its costing us.
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Facing a Blackhawks team that played on Thursday night after getting two days to rest in the Windy City, the Islanders looked lethargic and tired.
They struggled to break the puck out of their zone and won far too few puck battles.
In Nashville and Winnipeg, the Islanders could at least say they played decently and lost because of freaky goals against.
But like the 5-0 loss in Minnesota, this was a total failure and an indictment of everyone on the bench and behind it.
I dont feel the team is anywhere near where it can be or should be, Lambert said. We have some players on the team that we clearly need more from.
Management stood behind Lambert during a seven-game losing streak in November and the noise around his job status tamped down.
But now it has turned back up just a couple months later, and whether it is a change behind the bench or not, the Islanders look like a team that needs to be jolted into shape as soon as possible.
4Kyle Palmieri chases the puck near Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek during the Islanders’ loss. NHLI via Getty ImagesDespite not playing particularly well, the Islanders did at least appear in control of the game until late in the second period as they held a 1-0 lead.
That was when the walls began to fall in.
After Ilya Sorokin stoned Boris Katchouk on a breakaway, the Islanders allowed Katchouk to gather his own rebound, skate around the zone and put away a wrist shot to tie the game at one at the 18:07 mark of the second.
Just 1:07 later, Joey Anderson finished off a two-on-one breakaway from Colin Blackwell to send the Islanders into the dressing room for intermission stunned.
4Bo Horvat (14) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the Islanders’ overtime loss. NHLI via Getty ImagesNeeding a renewed effort and a comeback more than ever in the last 20 minutes, the Islanders came up with enough to tie the game. But not enough to win it.
After Jason Dickinson extended the Blackhawks lead to 3-1 by finishing Andersons feed to the crease, Bo Horvat cut it back to 3-2 in short order, netting Mathew Barzals cross-ice feed.
Then at the 12:50 mark, Kyle Palmieris wraparound tied the game at three.
Come overtime, though, the failure to finish the game cost them when Jones shot from the high slot found the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
4Julien Gauthier reaches for the puck against the Blachawks’ Isaak Phillips (left) during the Islandrs’ loss. NHLI via Getty ImagesThough one point is better than none, the Islanders made no token attempt to spin this as a positive.
We got to put it together quick or were going to see ourselves keep dropping down the standings, Horvat said. It starts with me. It starts with our top guys being better.
Save the third period, the urgency and energy was not close to where it needed to be.
A team that was in second place and looking like a playoff lock not too long ago looked like a shell of itself and got the result to show it.
All of us as individuals need to take a look in the mirror and be a lot better, Martin said. Were all guilty of it. Start looking at ourselves first and go from there.
The Metropolitan Division and the wild-card race alike are still tight enough that the Islanders are nowhere near out of it.
But that only matters if they can start collecting points.
And right now, they are playing their worst hockey of the season, with low confidence and issues plaguing both ends of the ice, with Lambert calling his teams play careless and saying there was a lack of respect for the way the game should be played.
Something has to change. Soon.
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