January 18, 2024 | 11:04am ET
By Anthony LaRocco, TheFourthPeriod.com
ISLANDERS STUMBLING DOWN THE STANDINGS
Ilya Sorokin, goaltender
NEW YORK, NY — On January 5th, a day after thumping the Arizona Coyotes 5-1, the New York Islanders were in a tie for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Fast forward two weeks and Isles now find themselves on the outside of the playoff line looking in.
While the Blue and Orange are still only one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final wildcard seed in the Eastern Conference, the Islanders now sit 11th in the standings.
So, how did they get here?
After defeating the Coyotes, the Islanders have gone 1-5 in the following six games. In a Metropolitan Division that is so tightly packed, it is no wonder the Islanders have fallen this far with only winning once in that span.
What is most problematic is the fashion in which they have lost. Following their come-from-behind win at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 11th, the Islanders paid old friend Barry Trotz and the Nashville Predators a visit at Bridgestone Arena two nights later. Nashville has not been too friendly to the Islanders over the recent years, going 0-7-2 in their last nine games in visits to Music City. Through two periods, the Islanders were playing one of their better games of the season defensively, limiting the Preds to just 13 shots on goal. After J-G Pageau deflected home a Noah Dobson shot from the point with seven minutes left to play giving the Islanders a 1-0 lead it looked as though the Islanders may leave Nashville with two points, giving them back-to-back wins. However, after Kyle Palmieri took a tripping penalty late in the third, the Islanders 30th ranked PK once again let them down as the Preds Luke Evangelista tied the game with just under five minutes left to play. Disaster then struck with 7.1 seconds left in regulation. Matt Martin, who has only played in 23 games this season, made an ill-advised turnover in his own end leading to the Predators scoring to take the 2-1 lead to ice the game. Head Coach Lane Lambert called it a “cardinal sin” to lose that game. Truer words could not be spoken. To make matters worse, Lambert’s Islanders looked lifeless in an embarrassing loss to the struggling Minnesota Wild with a final score of 5-0. The Islanders looked much better Tuesday night against the league-leading Winnipeg Jets, but in typical Islander luck, Ilya Sorokin lost his skate blade while the Jets had the man advantage and was unable to slide across the goal to stop Neal Pionk’s shot putting the Jets up 2-1. The Jets would score again two minutes later giving them a 3-1 lead, and eventually winning the game 4-2.
Where do the Islanders go from here? Tough question.
Once again, like back in November when the Islanders went on a winless streak of 0-4-3, fans are clamoring for Lane Lambert to be removed. At this point in the season, it is hard to envision GM Lou Lamoriello making a coaching change. Short of Lamoriello having been talking to an experienced former coach that can come in right away and make wholesale changes to their system it is unlikely that removing Lambert and having Assistant head coaches in John MacLean or Doug Houda take over on an interim basis would make much of a difference.
While the Islanders have three players in Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat and Dobson who all may reach 80 points or above this season, and another in Brock Nelson who may once again get close to the 40-goal mark, the team is closer to playing Doug Weight style hockey than their tight checking, suffocating defensive system of that of former head coach Barry Trotz had them playing.
The Islanders have allowed an average of 35 shots against per game, only the league’s worst team in the San Jose Sharks have allowed more. Sorokin, who many pundits had as the Vezina favorite for this season after finishing last season as the runner-up, has faced more shots and scoring chances than any other goaltender in the NHL this season. When you consider this, it is easy to see why firing the coach at this point in the season may not be a magic pill.
If you take a coaching change off the table there is only one other route Lamoriello can go to turn things around, and that is shaking things up with a trade. On January 30th of last year, Lamoriello surprised many around the league when he acquired Horvat from the Vancouver Canucks. At the time of the trade, the Islanders were two points out of a playoff spot, with many of the teams ahead of them having games in hand. While Horvat struggled to score after Barzal got hurt and missed the rest of the regular-season, the trade still paid off as the Islanders did get into the playoffs.
We could see Lamoriello make another trade in the coming weeks prior to the March 8th trade deadline, but there are some obstacles in the way. The Islanders currently have $3.43M of cap space available to them. However, that is due to Ryan Pulock being on LTIR. Pulock has been out of the lineup since blocking a shot in a 7-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 7th and has yet to resume skating. The Islanders will need that $3.43M and then some to activate Pulock when he is ready to return, complicating adding salary in a trade to improve the team in the meantime.
Any move Lamoriello potentially makes will require a combination of having the team retain salary on the player he is acquiring and likely taking back salary as well. Depending on the cap hit of the player, it may even require getting a third team involved for double salary retention, which we have seen over the recent years.
Lamoriello has options in efforts to get his team back on track, but there are visible roadblocks. In the meantime, hope is not lost. There is still time and the deficit for the Islanders right now to climb back into a playoff spot is not insurmountable at all. If they are going to turn their game around it must start on Friday night when the Islanders wrap up this four-game roadtrip in Chicago, a team that is 31st in the NHL and without top rookie sensation in Connor Bedard.