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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
GM Lou Lamoriello believed the upcoming home schedule was a reason for optimism. We all did, especially after a three-game winning streak as a prelude.
Instead, the schedule that lay ahead is burying their chances, and the season is slipping (if it hasn’t already slipped) away. The margin between the Isles and the postseason isn’t shrinking; it’s growing. The team is now eight points out of a playoff spot and second-to-last in the Eastern Conference.
The Islanders are an abysmal 7-11-2 at UBS Arena. This homestand was an opportunity for this group, which says how much it believes in each other, to build a case for staying together for one more run. Instead, they are providing clarity as to why it’s time to break big parts of this core apart.
"We have to start winning hockey games if we want everybody to stay." - Bo Horvat
What felt like an inevitable choice between starting a re-tool and chasing a playoff spot increasingly feels like a choice between trading players or playing out meaningless games in March and April. If Lamoriello doesn’t do the right thing by this franchise and collects prospects and assets to reshape this roster's future, it will be malpractice.
Sometimes, when you allow a situation to unfold naturally, the answers reveal themselves in time. Soon, there will be no need to search for and reflect on which direction the Islanders organization should take. The choice will be clear.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: Sean Couturier had a goal and an assist, Travis Konecny added three assists and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Islanders 5-3 on Thursday night. Morgan Frost, Garnet Hathaway, Cam York and Noah Cates also scored for Philadelphia. Samuel Ersson made 26 saves as the Flyers won for the third time in four games. Joel Farabee had two assists following three consecutive games as a healthy scratch. Bo Horvat, Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee scored for New York. Ilya Sorokin stopped 19 shots after a two-game absence due to illness, but the Islanders lost their second straight [ESPN]
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 The Islanders scored on the power play for the first time in 15 games at 9:21 of the first period on Bo Horvat’s one-timer. The goal broke an 0-for-25 streak with the man advantage.
🔻 The Flyers dominated the second period, scoring three times, including this give-and-go from Owen Tippett to Morgan Frost, making it 3-1.
🔻 After Barzal scored in the opening minute of the third, Cam York regained the Flyer’s two-goal lead at 5:16 when Sorokin struggled to get back in position.
3 REACTIONS
❶ HAVE HOLES: “What I saw at the start of the third period, we saw some urgency that we were looking for,” said Patrick Roy. “We need more consistency and that urgency from the start to the end. We can't have holes in our game."
❷ FRUSTRATING PART: "We're moving our feet. We're playing fast hockey. When we do that and we play simple, we're effective,” said Anders Lee. “When we get away from that, we shoot ourselves in the foot and that's the frustrating part. We should know better. We see how this plays out"
❸ HAVE TO BE BETTER: “I think we have to be disappointed in the result tonight,” Bo Horvat said. “We did some good things, but we also did some bad things that cost us. If you want to be consistently winning in this league, playing against a rival like this, we have to be a lot better than we were tonight.
GAME IMPACT SCORE
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders will aim to earn their first win of this homestand on Saturday night versus Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks. Before the game, the team will honor former C Brent Sutter and induct him into their HOF.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: Forward Simon Holmstrom (day to day, upper body) and Alexander Romanov (day to day, upper body) joined the team for the morning skate on Thursday. Holmstrom wore an orange non-contact jersey and is expected to miss his seventh straight game, per Patrick Roy, but is taking steps toward returning. "He's getting closer," Roy said of Holmstrom. "Today was his first day with the team, different jersey, but he's still day to day." Holmstrom has 22 points (9G, 13A) through 37 games this season.
JG Pageau was back in the lineup on a line with Anthony Duclair and Casey Cizikas. Roy about his versatility. "He's so smart, he sees the ice well," Roy said, "He's been playing really well and it doesn't matter if I put him on the right wing, or as a center. He's been so good reading plays and he's very reliable defensively.
Controversial Hit
In the first period, Ryan Poehling left with an upper-body injury and didn't return following a dangerous collision with Islanders forward Max Tsyplakov. The play was reviewed, but officials deemed the hit not to be a penalty.
"I understand why John [Tortorella] would be mad about seeing his player being hurt, but at the same time, I agree with the call on the ice,” said Patrick Roy. “I saw the exact same thing as the referees. And I think the referees did the right thing in a way that they called it a major to make sure they have a better look at it. And I agree with the call."
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, the Isles ended the longest streak of consecutive games without a power play goal by scoring twice; they had been 0-25 over the last fourteen games. Over the last fifteen games, the Isles have been outscored 9-2 on the power play. Anders Lee reached the 20-goal mark for the ninth time in his career; in the last nine seasons, he has finished with fewer than 20 goals only once (2020-21, when he played only 27 games). The Flyers earned their ninth comeback win, but their first where the comeback was completed before the third period. Ilya Sorokin's season-high shutout streak ended at 95:41; Bo Horvat's power-play goal was the Isles' first goal at 70:46.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On Jan. 17, 1981, Mike Bossy set a new NHL single-season record with his eighth hat trick in a 6-4 win over the Washington Capitals at the Nassau Coliseum. The hat trick gave Bossy 48 goals in 47 games on his way to becoming the second player to score 50 goals in 50 games. Also, Billy Smith became the second goaltender in team history to win 150 games.
🔗 Tsyplakov's Explosive Hit On Poehling: Islanders & Flyers Weigh In by Stefen Rosner, The Hockey News “Poehling suffered an upper-body injury and did not return after being helped off the ice. After breaking up a mini-scrum, the officials gathered. They decided to call the hit a major penalty, which allowed them to make a final ruling via video replay.”
🔗 Islanders’ Anthony Duclair clearly still hampered by injury by Ethan Sears, New York Post “More than once Thursday morning, Anthony Duclair described his condition as ”good enough to play” — and nearly a full month after his return from a suspected groin injury, it served to confirm what anyone watching can see. Duclair, the Islanders’ marquee July 1 signing, is not himself.”
And we leave you with this… custom blazers, which Islanders greats will wear at Brent Sutter’s Hall-of-Fame ceremony on Saturday night.
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I conceded the season and players should be traded as soon as possible. It's meaningless hockey at this point. The longer Lou waits to trade the better chance for injury. Must get assets at this point and everyone on the team should be on the block.