TAMPA, Fla. — The Islanders continue to run into different versions of the same fundamental problem, best illustrated by the fact that they are now guaranteed to lose more games than they win this season.
There is no head coach, line combination or strategy that can compensate for a group of players who can’t get their best out of themselves with anything resembling consistency.
That’s not to say the Islanders can’t make the playoffs, as their main competitors in the masochistic wild-card race all seem to have the same problem.
But loss No. 42 on Saturday, 4-1 to the Lightning in a game that saw the visitors put forth an inconsistent effort at best, seemed like a clarifying moment.
With athletic forward lines including Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat and Brock Nelson all anchoring their own lines in the name of balance, the Islanders found it, somehow, early in the game. All four lines had equal difficulties.
The Lightning were faster. The Lightning were sharper.
The Lightning won more battles, handled the puck better and did just about everything else too.
In the first period alone, Tampa Bay more than tripled the Islanders’ shots.
Thanks mainly to the efforts of Semyon Varlamov – who was up to the task in what turned into a duel with Andrei Vasilevskiy for most of the second period – the Islanders entered the third with a deficit of just 2 -1.
There was also a semblance of offensive momentum after coach Patrick Roy abandoned his original lines, sending Pierre Engvall back to play with Nelson and Kyle Palmieri while Casey Cizikas played on the left wing alongside Barzal Hudson Fasching and Jean-Gabriel Pageau lined up between Anders Lee. and Horvat.
But the Islanders’ own inconsistencies, combined with Vasilevskiy’s difficulty getting the puck, were too much to overcome.
Just 21 seconds into the third period, the Lightning increased their lead, Steven Stamkos deflecting Emil Lilleberg’s shot from the left point – a goal upheld following a high-sticking review – to put away the air from the Islanders ball.
Instead of a surge, the next 19:41 featured the same scattershot attack that has become the norm of late, relying more on rushing chances than anything sustained.
All that produced was an early shot from Varlamov, which led straight to Anthony Cirelli’s empty net.
Palmieri gave the Islanders the lead with their first shot of the game, firing a puck on net that deflected off Matt Dumba and inside.
But the Lightning’s constant pressure quickly destroyed any notion that the lead would last, as Darren Raddysh and Cirelli scored within 35 seconds of each other – the first on the power play – to give Tampa a deserved lead at 3:00 p.m. .
They never gave it up.
As has been the reality since about mid-January, the Islanders’ inclusion in the playoff race has more to do with factors outside of their control than anything to do with their own play.
Neither Flyers, Capitals or Red Wings – their main competitors – have more wins than losses.
But the Islanders, whose 31 wins are five fewer than those three teams, took advantage of the loser’s point, even compared to this motley crew.
Aside from a six-game winning streak earlier this month, the Islanders have shown almost nothing since Christmas that indicates they would be a contender without the loser’s point and without the fact that the playoff race is the Eastern Conference is a sprint to the bottom.
The talent is there, and it comes in fits and starts. But even in a playoff race of this caliber, it will be necessary to do better than what the Islanders showed to qualify.
Saturday was just the latest evidence.
New York Post
