After an egregious loss to the Washington Capitals, the New York Islanders now have to hope dominos fall the right way for them to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Here's our latest Islanders mailbag.
You guys had a lot to say following the New York Islanders 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals. Let's just get to it, shall we?
My thoughts are let’s beat Montreal and see what happens. I don’t care how bad the teams Pitt is playing, they can lose to anyone. (@heygump)
There's a reason why the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Florida Panthers are where they are with the season wrapping up and that's consistency.
The Islanders do have to beat Montreal, a team they have split within two meetings (1-0-1). The Penguins have beaten the Blue Jackets in all three meetings this season, but there's a reason the games are played.
A depleted Capitals team without Alex Ovechkin and other big names just beat the Islanders.
Ok, they're probably out of the playoffs, so time to revamp line-up. Clutterbuck, out. Lee, out. Mayfield, out. Bailey, out. Trade, yes trade, Barzal for a REAL goal scorer and other assets. He's not the answer. Re-sign Parise, bring up some youngsters. Trade Pageau. Rebuild. (@SouthJersyRich)
There is no way that the Islanders are trading Mathew Barzal after locking him up to an eight-year extension as well as Bo Horvat.
Scott Mayfield is likely gone, with the Islanders in need of acquiring another puck-moving defenseman. Josh Bailey likely gets bought out. We shall see what happens with Cal Clutterbuck, career-wise. Jean-Gabriel Pageau is definitely someone to watch at the draft, as he could certainly be on the move. Zach Parise would likely come back on a similar deal.
Half the team was out for the Caps we all knew what was coming.. PP just can’t score. (@isles1007)
The Islanders power play has now gone 0-16 over their last eight games and sit second to last in the NHL at 15.5 percent.
They had three chances Monday night but registered just one shot on goal.
Noah Dobson has shown that, right now, he is not consistent enough at making the right decisions at the blue line to be quarterbacking a top power-play unit.
When five-on-five offense struggles, that's when teams need their man advantage to be an advantage, but if anything, it's had the opposite effect for New York all season and in the past.
Hot take- I think the Islanders not making the playoffs is the best thing for them. They have the ideology that this is the team, but in reality, it’s not. They lack the creativity and defense this year to go on a long run. Desperation is needed in the playoffs, they lack it now. (@nicholasmaher2)
You could be right. After back-to-back semi-finals, the Islanders missing the playoffs last season was not enough to lead to change.
General manager Lou Lamoriello decided to give his group another shot and although he did bring in key pieces, like Bo Horvat and Pierre Engvall, along with Alexander Romanov, the mainstays, collectively, haven't been effective enough.
The locker room seems to need a major shake-up.
Why the hell did Lambert pull the goalie with the team dominating at 5 on 5, and coming off a Fasching goal? (@woodwork2134)
While Hudson Fasching scored to make it a 3-1 score with 5;08 to play in regulation, Ilya Sorokin was out at the top of the crease waiting to be waved to the bench.
Down two goals, Lambert took a gamble. It didn't pay off allowing two empty-net goals while scoring one.
And they were dominating, sure. But they weren't scoring. If I was the coach, I would have seen what transpired that next shift with still time on the clock, but there's a reason I'm typing this and not behind an NHL bench.
You are what your record says you are. (@macrobubble)
Could not have said it better. The Islanders are 41-31-9 because of inconsistent play the entire year. At some point, those "tough" starts aren't just a phase, an ebb-and-flow of the season. It becomes the season.
A "struggling" power play turned into their power play.
A Noah Dobson "struggling" on defense, turned into just Noah Dobson.
There are a lot of examples here of how issues that arose just became the norm.
Honestly, this loss is mostly on the coach. At this level, you don't really have to teach the players what to do. Your job as a head coach is to have them prepared, and they were not prepared to start that game. (@FinalE33)
I couldn't disagree more.
If you need your head coach in game 81 to come out with a pulse and hop on a team that was playing for nothing, with stars out of the lineup against a goaltender that hasn't been stellar this season, then maybe the playoffs aren't for you.
Lambert isn't the reason the Islanders made key mistakes early, from players who are known for not doing that.
That start was on the players. Now the decisions afterward, leaving Sorokin in, the mid-game adjustments, that's on Lambert. Not the start.
Bailey gotta go back in. Holmstrom looked lost tonight. Admit it. (JackAllen99)
Simon Holmstrom did look lost a bit early, but there's no way that you can honestly say Josh Bailey makes a difference in the result.
If Lambert believed, in crunch time, Bailey’s veteran presence and experience would benefit the group, he would have played.
Holmstrom has shown well, offensively, in the two games prior to Monday's defeat. So did Horvat, so I would keep the lines the same and hope the group bounces back.