Maybe this will jolt some urgency into the Islanders.
For a club that’s won just three games out of its last 13, there hasn’t been all too much of that lately, and the veneer of close losses finally broke down Thursday night in a listless and shambolic 5-2 defeat against the Kraken at UBS Arena.
The Islanders are 9-11-7 with just 25 points through 27 games, and whatever the excuses — injuries, so many one-goal games going the wrong way yet still within a couple of points of a playoff spot — they are in the Metropolitan Division’s basement.
While their neighbors across the East River have been in “save the season” mode despite a record that has mostly covered up the team’s underlying issues, the Islanders have yet to approach anything even in the ballpark of that rhetoric.
After Thursday, that might have to change.
“I understand our fans were pissed off,” coach Patrick Roy said after his team was booed off the ice following its worst performance of the season. “I’d be pissed off as well. Nobody was very happy and they deserve to not be happy.”
The Islanders were outworked and outplayed over all 200 feet. They lacked any detail or emotion to their game, got pushed around and were dominated on special teams, scoring twice late to make the final score look significantly better than the game went. For good measure, Ilya Sorokin struggled in nets, letting in four goals in the first 13 shots he saw before getting pulled in the third for Marcus Hogberg.
“I should watch video, try to find what I did wrong,” Sorokin told The Post. “Try to change.”
The only Islanders performance of recent vintage that compares is the 5-0 loss in Minnesota last season that essentially sealed Lane Lambert’s fate.
There was no third-period lead to blow in this one, and the attempt to jolt Pierre Engvall into shape by putting him onto the second line went nowhere as the Swede failed to establish a physical presence around the net as Roy has been begging him to do for weeks.
Then again, so too did the Islanders, who gave up a pair of tip-in goals in the game’s first 20 minutes to Tye Kartye and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
“I think in the D-Zone, we weren’t able to close quick enough,” said Grant Hutton, who was left to answer for the performance when every other skater cleared the dressing room upon entry by reporters. “They got roaming around. When that happens, you end up getting tired and when they do that shift after shift, it just kills any momentum you have leading up to that point. So for me, that was the biggest issue for us tonight.”
Engvall sealed his demotion back to the fourth line (and quite possibly to being a healthy scratch) with an effortless job at winning the puck from Yanni Gourde early in the second period, leading to Vince Dunn’s skating unimpeded around the zone and scoring to make it 3-0.
That was the first of two bad goals Sorokin allowed, the second coming on a Shane Wright shot from the left circle that beat the goalie clean on the near side, giving the Kraken their second power-play goal of the game at 13:05 of the second.
Given their own trio of power-play chances — one being a four-minute double-minor — the Islanders could not cobble together anything of note and often struggled to hold possession of the puck.
Those special teams trends are nothing new.
It’s a broken record at this point to say the Islanders are hoping their fortunes will improve when they reach full health, but even days with good injury news — Adam Pelech rejoining the team at morning skate — come with caveats.
Semyon Varlamov is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, which is why Hogberg relieved Sorokin on Thursday. Kyle Palmieri and Hutton left the game with injury at different points, though both returned.
It served as a reminder: Full health, in the NHL, is usually a thing that only exists in the imagination.
Over here in reality, the Islanders are going to need to figure this out with what they’ve got.
Over here in reality, they have won three of their last 13 games and that is not cutting it.
“It wasn’t good enough,” Ryan Pulock said.
It hasn’t been for a while.
## Islanders Implosion: Is This Finally Rock Bottom?
**World Today News: Expert Interview with Former NHL Coach, John “Johnny Rocket” roselli**
**WTN:** Coach Roselli, the Islanders were lambasted by their own fans after last night’s 5-2 loss to the Kraken. Do you think this is finally a wake-up call for a team that seems to have been sleepwalking through the last month?
**Roselli:** You know, I watched that game, and “sleepwalking” doesn’t even begin to describe it. They were lifeless. Outworked, outplayed, out-everything-ed. This wasn’t just a loss, it was a complete no-show. And that, frankly, is unacceptable at any level, let alone in the NHL. This team has talent, but talent without effort and passion is just a bunch of jerseys on ice.
**WTN:** Coach Roy mentioned after the game that even he was “pissed off.” Do you think this level of frustration was brewing behind the scenes, or is this a sudden eruption?
**Roselli:** I wouldn’t say sudden. This team has been flirting with disaster for weeks.Those one-goal losses are definitely frustrating, but they also mask deeper issues. This isn’t about bad luck, it’s about a lack of urgency, a lack of discipline, and a lack of accountability.
**WTN:** We know the Islanders have dealt with injuries, but they’re also missing a spark, especially on special teams. What needs to change to turn things around?
**Roselli:** First, you need to raise the compete level. You need players battling for every puck,every inch of ice. That starts with leadership – both from the veterans and from the coaching staff.
Secondly, special teams need to be addressed.Special teams win championships,and right now,the power play is anemic and the penalty kill is porous.They need to simplify things, focus on execution, and hold players accountable for their performance.
they need to find a way to manufacture scoring chances. The offense has been stagnant.They need to get pucks to the net with more urgency, create traffic in front, and find ways to break down defenses.
**WTN:** With the current state of the lineup, is making a deep playoff run still realistic for the Islanders?
**Roselli:** Honestly, right now, it’s tough to see. they’re buried in the standings, and the Metropolitan Division is stacked. They need a series of wins to climb back into contention, and they need to do it fast.
But, hockey is a funny game. if they can rediscover their identity, rediscover their passion, and make the necesary changes *, anything is possible. But that window is closing quickly. They need to show some fight, before it’s too late.
**WTN:** Coach Roselli, thank you for your candid assessment. We hope to see the Islanders turn things around soon.
