The often-ridiculous, condensed NHL schedule this season has created contests for every team that are almost entirely impossible to win. But nothing quite like this.
The Islanders’ first game back at Barclays Center in 22 days was an extremely ugly affair, as the return from the franchise-record nine-game road trip saw the Hurricanes score a touchdown and add a two-point conversion, beating the Isles, 8-4, on Monday night.
Even worse? How about making this a back-to-back, with the home-and-home concluding Tuesday night down in Carolina?
“Everyone has a tough schedule,” defenseman Travis Hamonic said, setting the tone for all of the Islanders not using this awful setup as an excuse for their brutal performance.
But interim head coach Doug Weight did at least admit the obvious, that mental fatigue is inevitable after a trip like that — even if it did include a few days at home between games at one point.
“There has to be,” said Weight, himself a veteran of 1,238 NHL games. “There’s proof in the facts of 50 years.”
Yet the Islanders (32-25-11) have very little wiggle room here, fighting for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and fully aware of how much each lost point could hurt come the end of the regular season in 14 more games. And those final games won’t matter much if they keep getting goaltending like they did, especially against a Hurricanes (28-27-11) team that was led by the first career hat trick from defenseman Jaccob Slavin.
The Islanders started with Jean-Francois Berube in nets, but he got pulled after allowing four goals on 13 shots through 28:02 of ice time. He was replaced by regular starter Thomas Greiss, worn down from playing so much over the long trip, giving up goals on the first two shots he faced and four total on 20 shots.
“Just bad all over the ice, goaltenders included,” Weight said. “There’s no hiding in this one, that’s for sure. Veterans looked tired, thought some young guys looked pretty good, actually had some legs. Besides that, everybody was awful.”
Believe it or not, the Islanders began the game well, going up 1-0 on a goal from Ryan Strome 9:11 in. But then Slavin scored the first of his three, followed 26 seconds later by Joakin Nordstrom to make it 2-1.
“The first seven minutes, I thought we were going to win 8-0,” Weight said. “We got the puck in, we were moving our feet in the offensive zone. We looked like we hadn’t missed a beat. And that was it. The last 53 was completely an about-face.”
After Brian Gionta tied it 2-2 late in the first, the Islanders actually took another lead when Calvin de Haan scored 2:43 into the second. But then all heck broke loose, with two goals from Faulk sandwiching one from Jeff Skinner, capped by another from Slavin to make it 6-3.
Islanders rookie Josh Ho-Sang, playing in his seventh NHL game and first at Barclays Center, scored his second career goal late in the second, but that was the lone bright spot.
The third started with a penalty-shot goal for Skinner to make it 7-4, and Slavin finishing his hat trick on a slow roller through Greiss’ legs with under 10 minutes remaining.
“We’re playing for our lives and playing for the playoffs, and that’s what it’s all about,” captain John Tavares said. “I think we all know what it’s like at this time of year to have that opportunity. To me, that should be motivating.”
So this slog of a schedule will continue, and the Islanders have no other option but to try to win to keep their postseason hopes afloat.
“Right now, it doesn’t matter,” Weight said. “We’re playing for our lives. We just made — yet again — tomorrow the biggest game of the year. All intents and purposes, it’s going to dictate a lot of what’s going to happen in the next month. We got to win, and we’re not going to win if we’re not better.”