Islanders: Three Takeaways from Sloppy 4-1 Loss to Bruins

3. Islanders Banged Up in More than One Way

The New York Islanders took a bit of a beating in Boston, and I’m not just talking about on the charts, the scoreboard, or in the locker room after what was probably an all-time Barry Trotz meltdown. They got hit frequently. By the Bruins, by shots from their own players, by shots from Boston players. It was a bit of a mess.

Multiple Islanders went down hard at varying points in the game. Casey Cizikas blocked a shot off his foot that sent him to the ground hard and hobbling back to the bench. J-G Pageau was half run into the boards and half fell into them. He also went down, though only because of a dislodged skate blade.

Josh Bailey left the second period and did not return. There are already Islanders fans saying some terrible things, which as we talked about earlier is to be expected. First off, that’s some trashy behavior, and it’s disappointing to see from this fanbase.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about Bailey, and what his potential absence could mean for this lineup.

As stated, there’s nothing confirmed on a potential Bailey injury yet. We don’t know what it is and we probably won’t find out unless it’s something serious. As per the Islanders, there is no update on Bailey either. I’m taking all this to mean that it’s likely something that could force Bailey out of the lineup for some time. At least for Friday’s rematch in Boston.

So with Bailey out, who takes his place as the second line right-wing? Naturally, I’m in favor of sliding Oliver Wahlstrom up a spot to play alongside Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier, while Kieffer Bellows slots in on the third line alongside Pageau and Kyle Palmieri. That, to me, would be as ideal a scenario as we’d get in the case of Bailey being out.

But we’re Islanders fans, not idealists. I’m gonna say that in the scenario in which Bailey is hurt we see Leo Komarov return to the Islanders lineup. It’s probably not what anyone wants to hear, but I think we know how Barry Trotz likes to do things. Maybe we’ll see Palmieri scoot up to line two, with Komarov taking his place on line three?

Whatever Trotz decides to do, I’m sure there will be plenty of fodder about it in the lead-up to Friday’s game. There’ll be some unhappy folks like there always are. There will be some folks screaming Kieffer Bellows’s name at reporters, journalists, bloggers, the Islanders social media team, etc., as if that’ll do anything.

So, here’s one to hoping Bailey’s okay, and here’s another for the slim chance that maybe we see Kieffer Bellows get another shot in the lineup.