Islanders No Show First 2 Periods in Buffalo and Lose 5-3

The New York Islanders looked like a team that's been eliminated from playoff contention. You can't find more of a lack of effort from a team than what we saw today from the Isles through the first two periods. In the first period, Casey Mittelstadt got the Sabres on the board with his fifth of the year.

Adam Pelech tried to get the puck in deep and instead it ended up going the other way on a three-on-one. Luckily, the Islanders were able to get one back to make it a 1-1 game. Mathew Barzal netted his 15th of the season.

He had a wide open look at the net and he made no mistake about it. Clearly, next year the Islanders need more from Mathew Barzal but this is exactly what we're looking for out of him going into 2022-2023.

The Isles didn't look great but leaving the period tied at one was pretty solid. Well, the second period was straight meltdown city. Adam Pelech took a hooking call at the end of the first and with the power play carrying over to the fresh ice service resulted in a Rasmus Dahlin goal.

It didn't stop there. Tage Thompson scored his 37th of the year off of a Ross Johnston turnover in the neutral zone. Vinnie Hinostroza would get in on the fun as well with a goal over Ilya Sorokin in tight to make it a 4-1 game.

To my surprise, the Islanders worked their way back into this game coming to life in the third period. First it was Noah Dobson scoring his 12th of the year

Love to see this from Noah Dobson who has been a bright spot in what can be considered a lost season for New York. Then it was Ryan Pulock throwing one on net from the blue line to make it 4-3.

Somehow, the Islanders got themselves back into it after not showing up for the first two periods of this game. The fun was quickly over though. Jeff Skinner just over two minutes later netted his 33rd of the season to make it a two goal game once again.

Things got chippy between Adam Pelech and Jeff Skinner and we saw Tage Thompson jump Matt Martin from behind (bad idea). Nothing came of it though and the Islanders dropped their fourth in a row. They play again tomorrow against Carolina. Good luck.