New York Islanders Are Nothing Short of Remarkable

The New York Islanders have once again pushed the limits of what their fan base’s sanity will tolerate. Saturday night they followed up a loss to the NHL’s worst team with a loss to the NHL’s second worst team.

Losing back to back games to the two worst teams in the league, as the title states, is nothing short of remarkable. The New York Islanders ended a ten-game home win-less streak for the Avalanche. They also ended a nine-game skid for the Coyotes.

In two games against teams that average three goals against plus per game, the New York Islanders scored just two sad, lonely goals.

“Hello Darkness, my old friend…”

What could Coach Jack Capuano possibly have to say after these disappointing losses…

To the credit of both Jack Capuano and Shannon Hogan, it has to be hard coming up with unique questions and answers. Especially when there have been so many similar disappointments this season.

“We had many chances”

More from Analysis

• Islanders, Finally, Have Cap Space – What Can They Do With It?
• Islanders: Consequences of the Nick Leddy trade
• Islanders Ilya Sorokin Proves He Was Worth the Wait
• Islanders Power-Play Cannot Continue Playing the Same Way
• Islanders: Analyzing Mathew Barzal’s Evolving Play-Style

Its 3 on 3 hockey. Of course there were many chances. Every edition of overtime hockey ends up in end to end hockey one way or another.

“Overtime was our time tonight”

I’m sorry, but this is absurd. The Arizona Coyotes let up 3.18 goals per game.  Your time was in regulation.

“The effort overall on back to back nights, with the break that we had, I can’t fault the guys for their work ethic.”

I don’t really know what this means. Arizona had played the night before as well. I also resent the idea that having a break from hockey makes the team worse. You’re the coach of an NHL team that’s desperately trying to stay afloat. You have two games coming up against the literal worst teams in hockey. Lock your players and yourself in the film room/practice rink!

Conclusions

The Islanders’ chances of making the playoffs are hovering around 10%. Its hard to imagine those odds getting any better than that if they can’t win games like these. Its unclear how much more of this fans will be willing to accept, but that hasn’t stopped the front office from doing absolutely nothing.

Next: Kieffer Bellows Juniors Highlights

The team has four days before their next game back home against the Florida Panthers. A part of me wants them to do some soul searching during that time. Maybe they come back and start a win streak that keeps them in it.

Another part of me wants them to start the tank by selling off the few disposable pieces that are working. But REALLY I just wonder how much all that time off will hurt the Islanders’ performance…