Islanders fans started the night by booing John Tavares. They ended it by booing their own team off the ice.
After a 3-0 loss to the Maple Leafs, it’s now a six-game losing streak for the Isles, who dropped to 5-8-2 after getting thoroughly outplayed by Toronto on Sunday night.
Again, the issues started on special teams. One night after going a disappointing 1 of 6 on the man-advantage against the Flames, the Islanders allowed a short-handed goal while on a four-on-three early in the first period. Mitch Marner got behind the defense off a Jake Muzzin outlet pass and slipped the puck past Ilya Sorokin, who stopped 37 of 40 shots.
It was the third short-handed goal the Islanders allowed this season. And after failing to score on three tries Sunday, their tally of power-play goals in the month of November remained at one.
That was the root of the problem, but things weren’t much better at even strength. The Leafs moved the puck around the offensive zone at will, getting chance after chance on the cycle and retaining possession for minutes at a time.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a sense of panic,” Matt Martin said, “but there should be a sense of urgency.”
The final shot count was 40-20, Toronto. The worse news: Brock Nelson, the team’s leader in goals, wasn’t on the bench to start the second period and never returned to the game. Coach Barry Trotz said after the game Nelson suffered a lower-body injury.
Nelson missing time would be nothing short of calamitous for the Islanders, who are missing six players in COVID-19 protocol plus Ryan Pulock with injury. Without Nelson on Sunday, they continued to struggle offensively.
The Islanders didn’t sustain any offensive-zone pressure until late in the second period, when they managed a few good minutes after a power play ended. But Joseph Woll, who finished with 20 saves in his second ever start, was steady for the Leafs in net.
Even that sequence came with a caveat: the power play that preceded it featured a number of mistakes, including the Isles getting beaten to the puck in their defensive zone and a puck going off Robin Salo’s skate as he returned to the bench.
“When it rains it pours sometimes,” Martin said. “I think everyone, not just the power play, everybody in all roles, situations can be better.”
Not even 90 seconds into the third, Anthony Beauvillier found himself one-on-one with Woll, then lost the puck off his stick before he could get a shot off. Less than a minute later, Toronto made it 2-0 on an Ondrej Kase goal off a nifty passing move from David Kampf and Nick Ritchie.
It was that kind of night.
“It seems when we think we’re gonna get something going our way it hasn’t been,” Trotz said. “It’s been difficult. No question. We needed something to jump on.”
Marner added a third Toronto goal at 6:31, redirecting a shot from Michael Bunting in the crease. By then, the Leafs were just pouring salt on the wound.
There are obvious reasons why the Islanders are losing. A COVID-19 outbreak hitting the team at the tail end of a 13-game road trip is, if nothing else, the worst timing they could have asked for. But unless the league decides to start postponing games, the Islanders will need to keep playing down a number of contributors.
“Put it this way, it hasn’t been easy,” Trotz said. “We’re not looking for excuses, we get it. We’re just trying to win a hockey game.”
It doesn’t help that Nelson seems to be the only healthy player consistently able to find the net. Zach Parise has yet to score this year. Kyle Palmieri has one goal. So does Jean-Gabriel Pageau. No one has besides Nelson has lit the lamp more than five times.
Even if the team were healthy, that would not be a formula for winning.
And even this early in the season, a six-game losing streak is something to be concerned about. The Islanders — tapped as potential Cup favorites preseason — ended the weekend still with 12 points, in last place in the Metropolitan Division and 16 points behind the first-place Hurricanes.
“We gotta win some of our games in hand,” Trotz said. “If we don’t, the runway gets shorter and shorter and it gets more difficult.”
It’s getting late early. And the Islanders are finding little respite.
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