Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Yes, the 3rd period was disappointing, but last night wasn’t really about a failed comeback. It was about how quickly the Islanders can look ordinary when they can’t move the puck cleanly through the middle of the ice.
Saturday’s 6-0 win over New Jersey made almost everything look easy. The puck moved, the chances came in bunches, and the Islanders looked dangerous from several different lines. Against the Rangers, that disappeared.
The Rangers forechecked aggressively, clogged the neutral zone, and made the Islanders work for every entry. Matthew Schaefer, who can usually create something out of very little, had far less room to operate. He took 12 shots; only two reached the net. The result was a slower, more frustrating game that was much harder for the Islanders to dictate.
That’s where Barzal’s absence really stood out.
He changes how defenses have to play the Islanders. He can carry the puck through traffic, back defenders off, and create controlled entries when nothing else seems available. Without him, the Islanders too often looked like they were trying to manufacture offense from the outside.
They still had opportunities. They hit three posts and had a chance to make things interesting after cutting the deficit late in the second period. They scored a power-play goal, but it’s still very much a work in progress.
Even after giving up the lead, the Rangers never really lost control. Their structure held, their forecheck stayed effective, and two empty-net goals finished off a 5-2 win; that was much closer than that.
For one night against New Jersey, the Islanders could make you forget what Barzal brings. Against the Rangers, they spent much of the night reminding you.
Simon Holmstrom may have broken his nose, and Alexander Romanov spent most of the third period in the dressing room with an undisclosed injury, and you have a night where it wasn’t all bad, but there was certainly more bad than good.
