Pete DeBoer Teaching Islanders Mandatory Lesson In Accountability Early In First Season

The New York Islanders continued their inconsistency on Thursday in Canada's capital, as the Ottawa Senators knocked off the Islanders 2-1 in a shootout.

Matias Maccelli scored with 12 seconds left in the first period, giving the Islanders a 1-0 lead.

However, Ridley Greig, who was picked using the Islanders' 2020 first-round pick dealt to Ottawa for Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored with under five minutes to go in the second period.

Long Island native Shane Pinto scored the shootout winner, knocking off the Islanders 

Semyon Varlamov, in his second start of the season, made 18 saves and played a terrific game.

Outside Varlamov, it was inconsistent and frustrating play that plagued the Islanders on Thursday.

That's to be expected when learning an entirely new system of a play from a brand-new coach in just the seventh game of the season.

With the score tied 1-1, and with both teams pushing for a winner, Islanders' Head Coach Pete DeBoer made the call to shorten his bench.

Cal Ritchie and Anthony Duclair can only look to use it as a learning moment. 

It's very easy to forget that Ritchie is still just 21 years old and has only played 79 NHL games in his career. He's still learning the ropes, as much as anyone could, and has had three head coaches in those games (Jared Bednar in COL, Patrick Roy, DeBoer).

Ritchie is going to be just fine.

Duclair, meanwhile, is someone DeBoer has already been happy with and publicly praised for his effort last week following the win over the Chicago Blackhawks:

"I thought he had an excellent camp," DeBoer said after the Chicago game. "I thought he was great the first two games. I thought he took a step back in the Ranger game, and I talked to him this morning and said, 'I need you to get back to what you were doing because he was becoming a really important part of our group,' and he responded tonight. 

"He did a great job, and I'm glad he got rewarded because that's a little while coming. He could have had a couple in the first couple of games."

The easy thing to do is jump to conclusions about what it may or may not mean for Duclair long-term when Mathew Barzal returns.

This isn't that. This is a player DeBoer believes in, and wants to get the very best out of. Sometimes, that means taking a hardline approach in a tight situation.

As for Matthew Kessel, it might even be less about him and his play and more about wanting to maximize Matthew Schaefer's minutes.

Schaefer played over 29 minutes in the shootout loss Thursday, and that meant Kessel's late ice time got sacrificed.

For all three players the takeaway should be simple: Take care of the puck, and don't take unnecessary penalties on the road. In other words, don't put the team in a bad spot.

The Islanders are next in action Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom they lost to begin this season. We'll see if there's any major lineup changes then.