Better Late or Never?

Frustration builds as slide continues; 8-10-5 at Thanksgiving Day mark

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Happy Thanksgiving, Islanders Country 🦃

The Isles tried something different last night, but it ended with the same result.

They may have lost last night’s game against Boston early as much as they did lat, but showed resilience in coming back from down 2-0 and 3-2 to tie the game headed into the third period. Yet, but no matter how they get there, their third period woes seem inevitable.

The Bruins had only 10 third period goals heading into last night, the fewest in the league. By the end of the third, they had scored three times to double-up the Isles 6-3 pushing their league worst goals allowed in the third period to 36.

At some point, the Isles have to start to win.

The patience for the fanbase and Patrick Roy is being tested. Things have to turn, and they may, but when is late, too late? Not yet, says the head coach.

“It’s a long season,” he said after the 6-3 loss to Boston. “How many times we said last season, ‘Oh, the Islanders are not gonna make the playoffs, oh the Islanders lost that big game, they lost that big game, that big game?’ We know we gotta stay close to that .500 mark when all the [injured] guys gonna be back and that’s what we’re trying to do. But we piss away some games that we could win.”

Roy said he would remain optimistic because that’s who he is, asking “What good is it going to do for us if I’m always focusing only on the result?” He’s a coach that sees little to no value in belaboring the negatives when there are positive things to emphasize that should lead to winning games. "I love these guys. They work hard,” he added. “They're pushing. It's the team that Lou gave me and I'm going to work extremely hard for these guys."

You can argue the Isles have played the way they’ve needed to without key players in the lineup, but that's what makes it that much more frustrating. They haven’t spiraled down the standings, but the have slipped down them, leaving them a more uphill battle than it should be when reinforcements arrive, and if things don’t change, by then, it could be too late.

Let’s dive in.

🏒 IN SHORT: Pavel Zacha and Brad Marchand each scored twice, and Jonas Korpisalo made 21 saves as the Boston Bruins defeated the New York Islanders 6-3 on Wednesday night. Morgan Geekie and Nikita Zadorov also scored for Boston, which was coming off a 2-0 home loss to Vancouver on Tuesday night. David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm each had three assists. Brock Nelson scored twice and added an assist for the Islanders, who lost their second straight. They are 1-4-1 in their last six games. Maxim Tsyplakov also scored [ESPN].

KEY MOMENT(s):

🔷 With time winding down in the second period, Nelson neatly played the puck from his skate to stick and wristed a shot through Korpisalo short-side with six seconds left to tie the game heading into the third period.

🔻Zacha’s tip-in at 10:48 of the third period snapped a 3-all tie. Zacha scored again, his fifth of the season, at 13:23 to give the Bruins a two-goal lead.

🔻 Zacha added his second of the game and period minutes later at the 13:23 mark after Pastrnak picked the puck away from Alexander Romanov and passed it in fro Zacha, who backhanded a shot past Sorokin for a 5-3 Boston lead.

3 REACTIONS

❶ BE BETTER: “We battled back all night tonight, kept tying the game up and just weren’t able to re-tie it in the third,” said Captain Anders Lee. “We have to be better, there’s no doubt. We’re not winning hockey games.”

❷ HAVE TO RESET: “It was disappointing,” Kyle Palmieri said. “It was a tie game in the third, so we had a chance to win, but it didn’t go our way. It’s frustrating but we’ll reset and get ourselves ready to go on the road in Washington.”

❸ DIG DEEP: “It just seems like we make a little mistake here, wherever it might be on the ice, and it just compounds and ends up in the back of our net,” Ryan Pulock said. “We need to find a way to dig deep in those situations. Tie game midway through the third, whatever it is, you just gotta be smart with the puck. You can’t mess around. Right now, every time we make a mistake, it’s costing us.”

GAME IMPACT SCORE

⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders have back-to-back games coming up as they travel to DC for a late matinee against the Washington Capitals at 3:00 PM EST on Friday and then host the Buffalo Sabres back at UBS Arena on Saturday night.

📊 STANDINGS:

📰 NEWS: Head Coach Patrick Roy said he was open to changing up the power play after Monday night’s loss, and the changes were dramatic. At Wednesday’s morning skate, Ryan Pulock quarterbacked one unit with Noah Dobson and Simon Holmstrom on either half-wall, Jean-Gabriel Pageau at the bumper, and Anders Lee at the net. On the other unit, Dennis Cholowski was at the point with Kyle Palmieri and Brock Nelson on the walls, Bo Horvat at the bumper, and Maxim Tsyplakov in front of the goaltender.

“We’re gonna have to be patient because it’s new positioning for some of those guys,” Roy said before the game. “But the main [thing] is having Bo in the bumper with Palmsy and Nellie. Hopefully they’ll find ways to create some offense and continue to create chances because the chances are there. It’s just a matter to finish. It’s nice to create something, but you gotta finish at some point.”

The Islanders only had one power play opportunity and it came late down 5-3 in the third period. Roy pulled Ilya Sorokin for a 6-on-4 advantage, but the Isles failed to capitalize.

Running Out of Chances

He has an elite shot, but we don't see it nearly enough for it to make a consistent impact. He was recently given ice time on the Isles' beleaguered power play but failed to produce. Head Coach Patrick Roy said on Wednesday that playing on the power play is a privilege, and Wahlstrom has been stripped of that privilege heading into tonight's game against the Boston Bruins at UBS Arena to close out a three-game homestand.

◾️HAVEN’T SEEN IT: "Everybody's been telling me he's a good finisher. I haven't seen that yet. But I want to see those things," Roy said of Wahlstrom after the morning skate. I think Wally could offer us more than what he's been doing. That's my opinion."

◾️WANT TO SEE IT: “I look at the menu and there’s a lot of s- -t on it. It’s a beautiful menu, I’m still on my appetite,” Roy said. “He hasn’t given me something that makes me feel like — OK, last game on the power play, he had two turnovers at the blue line. At five-on-five, he’s doing a lot of good things, but everybody’s been telling me he’s a good finisher. I haven’t see that yet. So I want to see those things.

Silver Fox

“The more gray hair he has, the better he plays,” Thomas Hickey joked about Brock Nelson during the post-game. Nelson has carried the load offensively the last three games with 3 goals, and 4 assists for 7 points on 13 shots. He’s now tied with Kyle Palmieri for the team-lead and the 33-year-old has played 189 straight games for the club.

📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Brock Nelson scored for the fourth straight game against the Bruins. It is only the 4th time an Islander has had a streak of at least that long (Ziggy Palffy -6 in 1997/98; Mike Bossy -4 in 1979; Bill Muckalt in 1999/2000).

🎥 ISLES REWIND: On November 29th, 1997, the Islanders defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-2 in the 1,000th regular-season game ever played at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Bryan Berard scored a highlight reel goal to make it 2-0 early in the first period after Sergei Nemchinov opened the scoring 3:14 into the game. Trailing 3-0 after one, St. Louis outshot the Isles 20-3 in the third period and 36-20 overall, but Eric Fichaud made 34 saves to preserve the win. For Fichaud, it was his final win as a member of the Islanders.

🎧 Weird Islanders: The Podcast! Joey MacDonald “Joined by NY Sirens goalie and die hard Islanders fan Abbey Levy, we remember Joey MacDonald, a back-up turned starter who had the game of his life for an undermanned and lottery-bound squad. After spending years in the AHL for the Red Wings organization, MacDonald came to Long Island to play the same role in Bridgeport.”

🔗 Islanders make wholesale changes to spark lifeless power play by Ethan Sears, New York Post “The wholesale changes to both power-play units instigated by Patrick Roy on Wednesday were a long time coming for an Islanders club which took its worst-in-class special teams from a year ago and somehow regressed even further”

🔗 Islanders Patrick Roy Still Waiting On Oliver Wahlstrom by Stefen Rosner, The Hockey News “After getting a glorious chance to show his worth with Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair out New York Islanders forward Oliver Wahlstrom has struggled to live up to expectations despite chances. In 18 games, he has one goal and one assist with six giveaways, averaging 9:31 minutes per game playing primarily on the fourth line.”

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And we leave you with this ….more Eric Fichaud! The Isles goaltender graced the cover of “The Blade,” which was the team’s Gameday Program. Fichaud lost his last seven games with the Isles and was traded to Edmonton on Jun. 18, 1988 for Mike Watt

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