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.
The Blackhawks celebrate after defeating the Islanders 4-3 in overtime at the United Center. NHLI via Getty Images
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.
Kyle Palmieri chases the puck near Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek during the Islanders’ loss. NHLI via Getty Images
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.
Bo Horvat (14) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the Islanders’ overtime loss. NHLI via Getty Images
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.
Julien Gauthier reaches for the puck against the Blachawks’ Isaak Phillips (left) during the Islandrs’ loss. NHLI via Getty Images
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.
And now that the team’s forward lines look different with Pierre Engvall and Casey Cizikas hurt, it’s a role from which Fasching may need to deviate a bit.
For four of the past five games, including Friday night against the Blackhawks, Fasching has played up on the second line with Brock Nelson.
New York Islanders right wing Hudson Fasching carries the puck past Minnesota Wild left wing Marcus Foligno during the first period at Xcel Energy Center. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
That might be the case for a little bit of time since neither Cizikas nor Engvall have resumed skating on their own.
“I try to maintain my own identify throughout the game, but yeah it’s a different style,” Fasching told The Post after the Islanders skated Friday morning at the United Center. “A lot more [offensive] zone draws, a lot more creativity. [Nelson’s] just really fast, too. I’m learning that as I go.
“Trying to find spots where he’s gonna be and find good lanes to try to help him and try to help [Kyle Palmieri]. Try to get our line contributing.”
Over 27:54 together this season heading into Friday, Fasching, Nelson and Palmieri had been on the ice for three goals against and just one goal for at five-on-five.
The silver lining, however, was that their expected goals rate sat at 68.97 percent with an 8-5 high-danger chance margin.
Ahead of Friday, Nelson had gone four straight games without a point, tying his longest streak of the season.
Combined with cold streaks for Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, that is a five-alarm fire for an Islanders team whose offense has suddenly gone cold.
It’s a small sample size, but the numbers point to the second line’s play having been better than the results.
The Islanders, losers of three straight prior to Friday, need to hope that is the case.
Hudson Fasching, pictured in an October game, needs to fill a top-six role for the Islanders given their injuries. Robert Sabo for the NY Post
“I think Fasch plays a simple, effective game,” Nelson said. “He’s able to hang onto some pucks. He’s strong on pucks. So for us, getting some turnovers off of that, hopefully generate some more possession time off of that. I think just try to support him, be in good spots. I don’t think he has to change his game.
“He’s effective at what he does when he’s playing hard and simple.”
Coach Lane Lambert also said he wants Fasching to keep doing what he’s been doing.
“I think that would be a mistake for him,” Lambert said. “He’s a player who plays a certain way. We want him to play a certain way, and I think that can benefit both Brock and Palms.”
The adjustment for Fasching then will come less in changing how he plays and more in what different situations than he’s used to being in will demand of him.
Engvall, remember, was in a bottom-six role for most of his time with the Maple Leafs.
He is not an especially gifted scorer, but the Islanders turned him into a key part of their second line by leveraging his speed and ability to transition the puck — allowing him to complement Nelson.
They can now survive his absence by doing something similar with Fasching.
“I try to just stay flexible with it,” Fasching said. “I’m starting to acclimate a little bit better to knowing where [Nelson’s] going to be. Neutral zone regroups and things like that where we had a couple things that were just off by a couple feet the other game [in Winnipeg]. It kind of affects the game flow, it gets a little choppier. I think we’re in a better spot now.”
If the Islanders were healthy, there’s a good chance Simon Holmstrom wouldn’t have played on Wednesday.
Holmstrom, a fixture in the lineup since he was called up after Kyle Palmieri got injured in late November, might have spent the last few months yo-yoing between Bridgeport and Long Island if the situation had not necessitated otherwise.
He had a rough performance in Pittsburgh on Monday night, after coach Lane Lambert had said he wanted more from the 21-year-old, but the Islanders couldn’t just demote him as part of the learning experience. With five forwards on the shelf right now, they didn’t have much of a choice but to keep Holmstrom up.
“It gives him an opportunity to fight through the adversity here or try to find some traction,” Lambert said Wednesday night. “Which can be extremely helpful as we move forward.”
A little earlier in the night, it had already helped the Islanders in their 2-1 victory over the Jets.
Simon Holmstrom (left) accepts congratulations from Bo Horvat after scoring the game-winning goal in the third period of the Islanders’ 2-1 win over the Jets. AP Mason Appleton reacts dejectedly as the Islanders’ celebrate Simon Holmstrom’s game-winning goal. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
Holmstrom got to the corner, fought through a hit from Dylan DeMelo and found himself on the receiving end from a feed from Bo Horvat midway through the third period. He let loose and came up with what turned into the game-winning goal.
“It was a good forecheck from our line,” Holmstrom said. “We got the puck back a couple times. I got the puck and I was just trying to find a lane and pick a corner.”
Holmstrom did what the Islanders have been trying to get him to do.
“We need him to get more shots and get into areas,” Lambert said Wednesday morning. “I think that’s the biggest thinking, is to get him into areas where he can provide that.”
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As for the hit by DeMelo, one of the harder plays in a tight and physical contest?
“It’s hockey,” Holmstrom said. “You gotta take a hit and make a play, right?”
And learn how to bounce back, which he did.
“It’s greatly satisfying and I’m happy for him,” Lambert said. “There isn’t a player that doesn’t want to do well or isn’t trying to do well. He had a good night tonight. Let’s hope he continues it going.”
The injured Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Josh Bailey have yet to begin skating, Lambert said.
The Islanders sent down Andy Andreoff while calling up Otto Koivula from AHL Bridgeport for his second audition within eight days. Koivula centered the fourth line, skating 8:46, but taking a penalty for tripping in the third period.
Islanders coach Lane Lambert won’t be getting much rest or relaxation during his team’s eight-day break. But getting away from a hectic schedule will be a moment for him and his players to take a needed breath of fresh air.
“We’ve played a lot of hockey, as has every team in the league, really,” Lambert said. “But we’ve had some travel through January. It’s been a tough stretch for us. It’s good to get away from the game to refresh, regenerate, spend some time with your family. Get in a frame of mind where you get reenergized coming back. And that’s just really all it is.”
The Islanders had a woeful January but finished it off feeling good. They swept back-to-back games at home against the Red Wings and Golden Knights to put a six-game losing streak behind them.
Brock Nelson and Ilya Sorokin will go to South Florida as the team’s two representatives at All-Star Weekend, and everyone else will get a break from a schedule that’s been unrelenting.
“It’s pretty hard to turn it off,” Lambert said. “You do your best you possibly can to do that, and I will. But overall, there’s always something going on.”
Barzal netted in a clutch shot against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
After the 2-1 win over Vegas on Saturday, in which Mathew Barzal netted the winner late in overtime, the mood in the dressing room was one of relief. The Islanders had won just twice all month going into the weekend, but now find themselves just two points behind Pittsburgh for the last wild-card spot. The Penguins do have three games in hand to add to their advantage, but the Islanders still having a chance after a 4-8-3 January is giving life to the group.
“Think if it went the other way these last two games, this break would’ve been tough,” Barzal said. “For us to put ourselves right back in the mix, huge going into this break.”
Adding to the optimism is that the schedule in the first week out of the break looks navigable. The Isles play four times in six nights, but three of their opponents are .500 or below in the Flyers, Canucks and Canadiens.
That should give them a chance to make a statement, particularly with management weighing what moves to make at the March 3 trade deadline.
If the Islanders are in a position to go for it, adding a scorer will be a must. The Isles rank 25th in per-game scoring and their power play, which is in the midst of a 3-for-64 run, is 31st in the league at 15.54 percent.
The Islanders are in a position to either land a playoff spot or have a woeful season.Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Most nights, their defense and goaltending has been good enough to at least keep them in games, but in a league where speed and skill is king, it’s hard to win many games without consistently scoring more than three goals. Not so coincidentally, the Islanders scored more than three times just once in January, a 6-2 win over the Canucks early in the month.
Lately, the goals have been coming from the second line of Anders Lee, Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, which has looked rejuvenated since Palmieri’s return to the lineup.
“I think it bleeds into everyone,” Lambert said. “When you’re watching the line out there and they’re playing the way they’re playing, you want to follow that up. And that’s what’s happening right now. The line is playing very well. It’s leading into other players playing very well.”
With a long vacation in front of them, the Islanders are happy to have something positive to reflect on.
“It was an important four points for us right before the break,” Semyon Varlamov said. “It’s nice to go into the break feeling good about the team, about ourselves.”
CALGARY, Alberta — Lou Lamoriello wasn’t exactly defiant, but on the afternoon of Aug. 22, it was at least clear he felt the narrative surrounding his team’s offseason missed the mark.
During a news conference to announce contracts for Noah Dobson and Kieffer Bellows, as well as introduce Alexander Romanov, Lamoriello spent much of his time defending the lack of moves to upgrade the roster over the summer.
“I feel very good about this hockey team,” he said.
“Sometimes some of the best transactions to make are the ones you don’t make,” he added, a few minutes later.
And in his last remarks of the day: “We would have made drastic changes last year if we didn’t feel good about the group we have and what we’re capable of doing. I say that with comfortability. I say that with confidence. I’m looking forward to getting back at it and maybe proving everybody wrong.”
Lou LamorielloGetty Images
After the Islanders finished off the first half of the season with a disastrous 1-3-0 road trip through the Pacific Division, it’s getting harder and harder to see them proving Lamoriello right. They are still in a playoff spot as of Saturday morning and may yet make the postseason. But a wild-card berth and a first-round playoff loss being spun as positive would only go to show how far this group has fallen in just two seasons.
The forward group Lamoriello failed to upgrade in a meaningful way over the summer still has all the same problems as last season, even with Mathew Barzal having taken a major step forward and Brock Nelson continuing to produce at a high level. Not enough skill. Not enough scoring.
That became especially clear in Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Flames, when the Islanders spent all 60 minutes searching for answers after Barzal became a late scratch. It’s not an overstatement to say it’s hard to see how they’ll survive if Barzal’s lower-body injury keeps him out for any serious period of time — that’s how important he is to the Islanders’ offense.
When the Islanders can get pucks deep, forecheck and play within coach Lane Lambert’s system, it works. But producing offense via controlled breakouts and entries has been an issue all year, and is at the heart of their struggles on the power play. Want to know why they’ve scored twice on their past 36 power plays? Because the Islanders are at their best when they are trying to get the puck back — not when they actually possess it.
Asked about that dichotomy after Thursday’s 4-2 debacle in Edmonton, Lambert said, in short, that his team didn’t forecheck enough against the Oilers, itself an admission of one-dimensionality.
“You turn the puck over and they come back at you,” he said. “You also have to manage the game well and be smart about who you’re playing. I thought we didn’t get [the puck] into areas [Friday]. Their goaltender plays the puck well. Early on, they broke the puck out a little too easily.”
A night later, it was the same issue in Calgary, and the Islanders walked away with a loss to show for it. It’s true that injuries — particularly Adam Pelech’s — have contributed to the issues, but every team suffers injuries, and the Islanders have been one of the luckier groups in the league in that category.
The injuries have exposed a lack of organizational depth more than anything else. Signing Hudson Fasching over the summer looks shrewd on Lamoriello’s part, but that is about it.
Neither Josh Bailey nor Anthony Beauvillier have stepped up in the way the Islanders need, and the two combine for $9.15 million against the salary cap. The members of the Identity Line are not going to make up for lack of scoring, and Cal Clutterbuck has struggled to stay healthy.
Ross Johnston, meanwhile, has played only as a last resort a year after signing a four-year, $4.4 million extension. Bellows hit waivers after playing one game. Aatu Raty may be a player in this league eventually, but he is still earning the trust of the staff, and if Barzal misses a few more games, the Islanders might end up using up a year of his entry-level deal to put a Band-Aid on the wound.
If they can’t string together some wins at home over the next two weeks, when six of their next seven games will be at UBS Arena, it will be a full-blown disaster. Who knows what Lamoriello will do then.
Remember, though, this season is not a referendum on the first-year head coach. It reflects directly on the general manager.
A week ago, when the Islanders lost two straight games in Florida and talked positively about how they played, it was easy to be dismissive.
Now? Those losses look to have been building blocks. And if the three games that followed — successive victories over the Rangers, Carolina and Colorado — are any indication, the finished product could be pretty impressive.
“I think the more you do the little things over and over again, maybe some of the little concepts, they become a little more second nature for sure,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said following a 5-4 comeback win over the Avalanche on Saturday night. “That’s the key is to play without speaking, so to speak, or without hesitation.”
Lambert, a first-year head coach, has implemented new concepts since taking over, mainly centering around being more aggressive. Those paid dividends on Saturday, when the Islanders kept up with the fastest team in the league, the Avalanche, never looking overwhelmed even when they were down by three goals.
That is something that could never have been said about the Islanders last season, when their lack of speed was a death knell. This season, they seem to have figured out how to counter it.
Anthony Beauvillier is hugged by teammates after scoring the game-winning goal in the Islanders’ 5-4 comeback win over the Avalanche.Robert Sabo
“We’ve done a better job of that, no question,” Lambert said. “We’ve made a couple little adjustments and I think it’s helped our game and helped with handling speed, so to speak.”
“Just trying to gap up a little bit more,” Scott Mayfield said. “It starts with our forwards trying to get the pressure on them. We know they’re coming back so they have our back. You see the pinches here and there that probably shouldn’t have gone, but that’s learning.”
The learning curve was evident during their three-game losing streak that ran from Oct. 20 through last Sunday, and maybe that is a product of a new coach. It’s obvious from their victories over three of the better teams in the league, however, that the Islanders have taken a major step forward.
“I think we’re gelling together a little bit more,” Mayfield said. “You can see it in the last three games. The [New] Jersey effort wasn’t there. Then we get to Florida, I think we played a little bit more together, a little bit more battle, but didn’t get the result there so it’s nice to get these three results. That’s what we’ve been focusing on.
“There was a little bit of growing pain, but I think it’s coming together pretty well.” The Islanders honored Josh Bailey with a pregame ceremony marking his 1,000th game, a milestone he reached Friday at Carolina.
The Avalanche were without forward Valeri Nichushkin (lower body) for the second straight game.
TAMPA, Fla. — The Islanders don’t want to hear about your math equations.
Though they have acknowledged that analytics has a role in hockey, they still value the eye test and gut feelings over numbers.
“There’s will and structure to our game,” coach Lane Lambert said Thursday. “Those don’t really get analyzed by analytics. We analyze it.”
There has been recent growth in the use of numbers in hockey — every team, the Islanders included, has staffers with analytics as part of their portfolio — but compared to the other three major sports, the NHL is still far behind. That’s in part due to the nature of the game. Hockey is continuous, random and hard to break down into the sort of individual events that are easy to analyze mathematically, such as a pitch in baseball, a snap in football or a possession in basketball.
Most of the publicly available numbers in hockey (individual teams track their own data) use shots as stand-ins for possessions, a reasonable but rudimentary method of estimation. Expected-goals models, which are widely cited, can be useful, but because there is no public puck-tracking data, they fail to account for factors such as whether a shot was preceded by a pass; such shots are harder for a goaltender to stop.
Islanders forward Matt Martin (17) celebrates a goal against the Lightning on Oct. 22, 2022.NHLI via Getty Images
“It’s everywhere nowadays so I guess you certainly see it,” Matt Martin said. “I think it can definitely be flawed as well. I think sometimes you might have a really good game defensively against someone’s top line where you lose the Corsi battle or whatever it is, but you keep them off the board and don’t give up a ton of high-danger chances. And analytically, sometimes that shows up as a very poor game where you’ll get a tap on the back from your coaching staff about how good of a job you guys did.”
The Islanders’ fourth line, which Martin is a part of, is a good test case. Because they spend a lot of ice time in the defensive zone or on the forecheck, their analytics reflect negatively on their play. But the goal of the fourth line is not necessarily to generate offense, but to leave a physical impact on the game, wear down opponents and keep them off the board.
“I think you can walk around a dressing room, someone can tell you whether they had a bad game or a good game,” Martin said. “We know as professionals. … You get matched up against Connor McDavid, you’re probably gonna lose the Corsi battle. But if you limit the amount of high-danger chances he has and keep him off the board, we take that every single night.”
Martin said there isn’t much interaction between the Islanders’ analytics staff and the players. Taran Singleton, a longtime video coach with the Devils when current Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello was in New Jersey, is one of five staffers devoted to analytics.
“I’m not a big analytics guy,” Zach Parise said. “I just think there’s too many factors in this game that don’t get accounted for. I’ll go as far as shots on goal, cause you give yourself a chance to score. Anything past that, it’s a little difficult to measure.”
Like Martin, Parise cited factors such as the opponent as a reason analytics fall short.
Islanders forward Zach Parise shoots on Lightning goalie Brian Elliott on Oct. 22, 2022.AP
“Are you playing against [Patrice] Bergeron and some Selke [Trophy] winners? Or are you playing against a fourth line all night?” Parise said. “Where are you starting on a faceoff? Are you starting every shift on a controlled breakout? Do you lose the draw? If you lose the draw, you might not touch the puck the entire shift.
“You don’t reset all the time and start over like a pitch [in baseball], you know what I mean? That’s just my theory. I could be wrong. I’m sure there’s value in it, but I don’t stress much about it.”
Three games into Lane Lambert’s tenure as coach, the difference in how the Islanders play has not only been obvious, but has had strong positive effects.
After a training camp in which “aggressive” was the word du jour, we are seeing it in action, in every phase of the game. Yes, that means defensemen getting up on the rush — it is no coincidence that six of the team’s 13 goals have come from their blueliners. But that is not the half of it.
The biggest difference between the Islanders and the top-tier teams in the league last season was the speed at which they played. Much was made about the average age of the Islanders because they played like an old team. They broke the puck out slowly. They eschewed the rush. Watching them and then watching the Avalanche, Lightning, Flames or Oilers was like watching two different sports.
Again, it is just three games, two of them against competition the Islanders should be beating, but at least they look to be playing the same game as the contenders. That comes down to a difference in, yes, aggression. Not just on the rush, but in every phase of the game.
Where it’s been most noticeable so far is on the forecheck.
The Islanders were always a strong forechecking team under Barry Trotz, but they depended on their forwards to do much of the work. The defensemen stayed back, meaning that if the opposition got above the hash marks, more often than not they could get all the way through the neutral zone with some degree of ease.
Lambert has changed that, and now there is a significant degree of pressure at the blue line as opponents exit the zone. That might make the Islanders susceptible to more odd-man rushes if their lines can be broken — everything is a tradeoff — but it has allowed them to keep the pressure on the offensive zone in a way they simply did not a season ago.
via ESPN+
Watch Adam Pelech’s positioning here on the far wall. When the puck is played around the boards, he’s all the way at the hashes to force the Ducks’ Troy Terry to play it back behind the net. The forwards do a good job as well, but that is where the real difference is compared to last season.
The added pressure also helps once the Islanders possess the puck. With Pelech and Ryan Pulock already stationed at the blue line, Pulock becomes an easy outlet for Brock Nelson after he wins a puck battle behind the net. Consequently, the Islanders can quickly get set up in the zone and not have to worry about an entry.
“If you forecheck with three guys, if you beat the three forwards, there’s that gap between the D and forwards. The D start to back off and you’re more or less giving the other team a free exit,” Matt Martin told The Post. “Now I think we’re a little more up and together. When we forecheck hard and a puck gets rimmed around the boards, our D are coming to keep that puck in and keep it alive. And then we come back hard to cover up for them.
“You’re gonna see a lot more of that, I think, around the blue lines. A lot more [of] those 50/50 pucks that we’re trying to come up with as opposed to backing off and allowing them to exit [with] no pressure.”
Even in the neutral zone, the pressure has been much more relentless. The little things — particularly forwards getting sticks on pucks — have shown out. Here, Kyle Palmieri does just that, and it leads to a zone entry.
via ESPN+
Earlier in the game against Anaheim, it was Anthony Beauvillier who made a heads-up play with his stick coming over the boards, leading to Scott Mayfield’s goal off the rush.
via ESPN+
The aggressiveness even has shown up on the penalty kill, where Islanders forwards have been emboldened to push up the ice when the situation has called for it. That approach nearly resulted in a shorthanded goal for Casey Cizikas against the Panthers when he chased a loose puck up the ice.
via ESPN+
The Islanders needed to find a way to generate more offense with the same group of players. So far, this is the way that works. The fourth line, in particular, has looked rejuvenated after struggling through last season.
“We love it, honestly,” fourth-liner Martin said of the forechecking mentality. “It allows you to hunt and make that first guy get rid of the puck, and you know that our guys are coming to try and keep it in. It definitely, I think, leads to more opportunities, more pucks going towards the net. You don’t want to give anyone anything for free.
“So if a player’s gonna make a play off the wall, which is always a tough play, and they don’t get it out, then we got an opportunity to turn it into offense.”
Added defenseman Noah Dobson: “It’s not fun when guys are chasing pucks as a D-man. You know they’re coming hard and they’re coming at you. That’s a good part of our game. When we’re forechecking well, we get lots of chances off it.”
A bigger test is coming soon with five straight games against playoff-level competition following Thursday night’s matchup with the Devils. Right now, though, we can only judge what we’ve seen. And what we’ve seen is the Islanders adopting a new approach and running with it.
“I think it’s just aggressive everywhere at all times is what [Lambert] wants,” Martin said. “Basically you’re never giving anyone a free play, you’re never letting anyone off the hook. You wanna keep the pressure on them. You wanna make them execute.”
Problem solved
Sebastian Aho’s move to the IR has eased a roster crunch facing the Islanders, for now.Corey Sipkin
The solution to having too many forwards coming out of training camp, it turns out, was not to send down one of the forwards, but to put a defenseman on injured reserve. By sending Sebastian Aho to IR with an upper-body injury retroactive to Oct. 8, the Islanders effectively ensured Oliver Wahlstrom, Kieffer Bellows, Ross Johnston and Nikita Soshnikov can stay on the roster without any worries.
Aho, who likely would have been a healthy scratch for games, still is practicing with the team as he works his way back from the injury. He has not spoken to reporters since going on IR, and Lambert has only spoken in generalities regarding Aho’s timeframe for returning. (The day Aho was placed on IR, he skated with the extras for 45 minutes after the rest of the team came off the ice. Make of that what you will.)
He’s already passed the minimum time to stay on injured reserve, so the Islanders can activate him if need be as long as he is healthy, a scenario that might only end up coming to pass if someone else goes on IR. If he is able to come back at the first moment the Islanders require him, though, it would be a good way of having navigated what seemed to be a real roster conundrum.
Dobson and Romanov taking steps forward
The Sharks may not have been the toughest test, but Alexander Romanov and Noah Dobson still aced their time together on the ice in a 5-2 Islanders win this week.Getty Images (2)
Lambert did not exclusively go at certain matchups with his defensive pairs, but most of Dobson’s and Romanov’s work Tuesday came against either the Sharks’ second line, led by Tomas Hertl, or their third line, led by Nick Bonino. (If you’re wondering about Logan Couture’s top line, its largest share of minutes came against Pelech and Pulock.)
The Sharks, who head to Madison Square Garden at a well-deserved 0-5, are a hapless group, so take that with a grain of salt. But it is most definitely a positive sign.
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This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
