Islanders News: I thought we were done with this

8 months ago  /  Lighthouse Hockey

[blows raspberries] | Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images


I thought these guys turned a corner and weren’t going to do this no-show thing in big games anymore. My mistake I guess! They weren’t going to win six games in a row every time. They can’t win every game. And they did fly back from the West Coast and had to stop in Buffalo before going home. But last night, the New York Islanders looked like they didn’t even get off the plane.
Indeed, it was probably a more important game to the Buffalo Sabres, and they showed a lot of desperation. It was an important game for the Islanders too, though. A loss would have been easier to stomach if they at least acted like it was an important game, or that they had a game at all. They could have gained ground on the Flyers and pushed down the Red Wings. They did this no-show thing in another Most Important Game of the Year against the Tampa Bay Lightning two weeks ago. I thought after this win streak, where they played sustainably well and with renewed vigor under Patrick Roy, that we moved past the no-shows; even Monday night in LA was better despite getting shut out. Evidently, we are not past them, and we can reasonably expect it to happen at least once or twice again at this rate. As always, I’ll be thrilled to be proven wrong. This team infuriates me. And they made Roy madder than he’s been here:


Patrick Roy: “We were flat.”— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) March 15, 2024




At the end of the day, they woke up yesterday morning in a playoff spot, and they woke up today in a playoff spot, too. As far as I am aware, they still control their own destiny. But they have a tough stretch of games coming up next week, and they had a chance to give themselves more of a cushion. It certainly would’ve been nice.
Islanders News
Recaps if you dare: LHH | 3 Takeaways | Newsday | NY Post | THN | NYI Skinny

The top line wants to improve defensively. [Newsday]
Mathew Barzal wants them to be like Stamkos-Point-Kucherov. [NY Post]
Casey Cizikas fits in well with Roy’s Swedish Connection. [Islanders]
Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck combined for the last Islander goal. They brought some physicality against Buffalo, but not enough for a win. Anders Lee fought, too. [Newsday]

Elsewhere
Last night’s NHL scores include regulation losses for the Flyers (to the Maple Leafs) and the Red Wings (their seventh straight regulation loss, this one again to the Coyotes). But the Lightning came back to beat the Rangers in regulation, and the Capitals were gifted the two goals they needed to beat the Kraken in regulation.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were going to give out Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads last night, but they got stolen. Jagr is on a mission to find them now. [NHL]
Ranking the top rivalries. Isles-Rangers is no. 8, for those who don’t subscribe. [E$PN+]
We might be expanding again. The league, I mean. [Sportsnet]
They don’t just do hockey at Minnesota State’s Hockey Tournament; they do hair, too. [NY Times]
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