This week of New York Islanders hockey was very tough to watch. The Islanders dropped two out of three games amidst a week long road trip. They picked up three points courtesy of an overtime loss to the Bruins and a win against the Golden Knights. Saturday’s victory keeps the Islanders in the second wild card spot, one point ahead of the Washington Capitals. 

Missed Opportunity Against the Bruins

The Islanders kicked off a six game road trip against the red hot Boston Bruins. They got off to a terrific start, making great plays on the puck in the offensive zone and creating some great scoring chances. However, Linus Ullmark kept them off the board and then drew a goaltender interference penalty to set up a Bruins power play and kill the Islanders’ early momentum. Jake DeBrusk deflected a shot eight seconds into the power play to give the Bruins the first period lead. Then DeBrusk struck again 19 seconds later to double the Bruins early lead. Josh Bailey scored a deflection goal of his own with nine seconds left to play in the first to get the Isles on the board. 

Noah Dobson tied things up at 11:43 in the second, ripping a slap shot by Ullmark from the point. Having kept the Bruins off the board for the period, the Islanders received a late power play from an A.J. Greer roughing penalty. What ensued was a terrible excuse of a power play, with the Bruins taking back the lead with a Derek Forbort short hander. Casey Cizikas was able to tie it up at three a piece early in the third period with a wrap-around goal. After surviving a late push by the Bruins, this game went to overtime and a shootout. Mat Barzal was the only Islander able to beat Ullmark in the shootout period. DeBrusk and David Pastrnak scored on Semyon Varlamov to give the Bruins the 4-3 shootout victory.

Ugly Loss to the Coyotes

The second stop was to Arizona to play the Coyotes at Mullett Arena for the first time. The Islanders got off to a much better start against the Coyotes in this second meeting, with Sebastian Aho and Barzal providing first period goals to take a 2-0 lead. But the Isles let the Coyotes back into it with a Shayne Gostisbehere goal in the last minute of the first. 

In the second, Clayton Keller (8:55) and Nick Bjugstad (9:09) scored 14 seconds apart to quickly take a 3-2 lead. With two minutes left in the period, a Coyotes turnover went directly to Dobson who shot a wrister past Vejmelka to tie the game at three. 

The Coyotes took the lead back two minutes into the third period, with Travis Boyd driving to the net to beat Sorokin. Later in the period, Keller took a shot that deflected off of Alex Romanov’s groin and past Sorokin for the 5-3 advantage. Anthony Beauvillier scored a goal with the Islanders net empty at 18:21 with the net empty to cut into the Coyotes’ lead. Despite some quality time in the offensive zone with the net empty, the Islanders couldn’t find an equalizer. They lost 5-4 to a Coyotes team that ranks towards the bottom of the league. 

Islanders Snap Losing Streak in Vegas

Next up was a game against the Pacific Division leading Golden Knights in Las Vegas. Anders Lee got things started for the Islanders, snapping a shot past Logan Thompson in the first. The Golden Knights tied it in the first minute of the second, courtesy of a Reilly Smith power play goal. The Islanders responded with a pair of goals from some unlikely sources. First was Hudson Fasching, making some nice moves with the puck and going five-hole to take back the lead. In the final minutes of the third, Simon Holmstrom scored his first career NHL goal to give the Isles a 3-1 lead. Cizikas made a valiant effort to try and score a buzzer beater at the end of the period, but just barely ran out of time. 

Fasching took a holding penalty early in the third and gave the Golden Knights a big power play opportunity. Smith struck again on the man advantage, cutting the Islanders lead to one. Vegas dominated play after this goal, with the Islanders stuck in their zone for a vast majority of the period. Adding even more drama was the sudden switch from Varlamov to Sorokin with minutes left to go in the game. The Islanders managed to survive the strong push, with Brock Nelson scoring an empty netter to secure the win. Zach Parise added another empty netter for the 5-2 victory to end the week. 

Takeaway

There’s not a lot of positives to come away with from this week of play. Despite scraping up three points, the level of play from the Islanders was sloppy all around. One of the biggest problem areas of the week was the power play. They went 0/3 against the Bruins and had one of the worst examples of a power play you’ll ever see that wound up costing them a pivotal goal. Then, against one of the worst teams in the league, they went 0/5 in a game they lost by one. They missed two more chances against the Golden Knights to cement going scoreless on 13 consecutive power plays. 

In addition, the Islanders had some awful play in their own zone that burned them in all three games. Quite frankly, they’re lucky they didn’t lose the Bruins or Golden Knights game in regulation. Both teams dominated zone time in the third period and had numerous high danger chances to nearly change the direction of their respective games.

This recent stretch of play is highly reminiscent of the final few months of last season. The team can compete, but their inconsistent level of play costs them winnable games. With some of their Eastern Conference rivals surging, the Islanders need to turn things around fast if they hope to stay afloat in the playoff hunt. 

3 Stars of the Week

1. Brock Nelson (One goal, four assists)

2. Noah Dobson (Two goals, one assist)

3. Josh Bailey (Goal, two assists)

Credits

Featured image courtesy of NHLI via Getty Images

Check out our NHL page for more updates!

You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from great TGH writers like Justin!

• SEO Powered Content & PR Distribution. Get Amplified Today.
• Platoblockchain. Web3 Metaverse Intelligence. Knowledge Amplified. Access Here.
• Source: https://thegamehaus.com/sports/islanders-weekly-recap-12-12-12-18/2022/12/19/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=islanders-weekly-recap-12-12-12-18