Islanders lose in overtime to injured Blackhawks

CHICAGO — This looks a whole lot like rock bottom for the Islanders. 

The team’s four-game road trip from hell was capped off by a 4-3 overtime loss to the Blackhawks — a team that more closely resembles a band of AHL misfits with much of its lineup injured than an NHL club — on Friday night at the United Center after Seth Jones’s game-winning goal. 

That pushes the Islanders’ losing streak to four and their record since Dec. 31 to an abysmal 2-6-2.

With the Devils beating the Blue Jackets, it also dropped the Islanders to seventh place in the Metropolitan Division.

And it turns up the heat under coach Lane Lambert’s seat to a boiling point. 

Facing a Blackhawks team that played on Thursday night after getting two days to rest in the Windy City, the Islanders looked lethargic and tired.

They struggled to break the puck out of their zone and won far too few puck battles.

In Nashville and Winnipeg, the Islanders could at least say they played decently and lost because of freaky goals against.

But like the 5-0 loss in Minnesota, this was a total failure and an indictment of everyone on the bench and behind it. 

As for Lambert’s status, management stood behind him during a seven-game losing streak in November and the noise around his job status tamped down.

But now it has turned back up just a couple of months later, and whether it is a change behind the bench or not, the Islanders look like a team that needs to be jolted into shape as soon as possible. 

Despite not playing particularly well, the Islanders did at least appear in control of the game until late in the second period.

That was when the walls began to fall in. 

After Ilya Sorokin stoned Boris Katchouk on a breakaway, the Islanders allowed Katchouk to gather his own rebound, skate around the zone and put away a wrist shot to tie the game at one at the 18:07 mark of the second.

Just 1:07 later, Joey Anderson finished off a two-on-one breakaway from Colin Blackwell to send the Islanders into the dressing room for intermission stunned. 

Needing a renewed effort and a comeback more than ever in the last 20 minutes, the Islanders came up with enough to tie the game.

But not enough to win it. 

Bo Horvat cut the lead to 3-2 in short order, netting Mathew Barzal’s cross-ice feed.

Then at the 12:50 mark, Kyle Palmieri’s wraparound tied the game at three. 

Come overtime, the failure to finish the game cost them when Jones’ shot from the high slot found the back of the net. 

Though one point is better than none, spinning this as a positive would be pretty hard to do. 

Save for a spell in the third period, the urgency and energy was not close to where it needed to be.

A team that was in second place and looking like a playoff lock not too long ago looked like a shell of itself and got the result to show it. 

Even early on, the Islanders looked like they might get out of Chicago with two points, but barely.

The Blackhawks took the game’s first eight shots as the Islanders looked abysmal in their own zone early on.

But it was the visitors’ first shot of the game — from Brock Nelson off the rush — that actually found the back of the net. 

With Nelson’s line continuing to create chances, it looked like the Islanders might have just enough to get through the game, get two points and get home. 

That proved a fanciful notion. 

The Metropolitan Division and the wild-card race alike are still tight enough that the Islanders are nowhere near out of it.

But that only matters if they can start collecting points. 

And right now, they are playing their worst hockey of the season, with low confidence and issues plaguing both ends of the ice. 

Something has to change. And soon.