It hasn’t helped that they’ve been without one of their best defensemen in Ryan Pulock, who’s been sidelined since sustaining a lower-body injury on Nov. The issue is that the Islanders, who’ve been a strong, low-event defensive team in prior seasons, have been mediocre or worse in limiting chances against. The Islanders are tied for fifth most goals against at 5-on-5 (25) and overall (38) in the last 10 games - and that’s with their primary starter in net, Ilya Sorokin, putting up an impressive. The rest of the team is under double digits for production.ĭefensively, the outlook isn’t much better.
Brock Nelson - who also has 11 points (9 G, 2 A) - has been missing from the lineup for the last four games after he was injured on Nov. No one else on the team has more than two points in that span. Mathew Barzal - who is tied for team lead with 11 points (5 G, 6 A) - is the only player driving offense recently with 6 points (2 G, 4 A) over the last 10 games. They’ve managed another four goals on special teams in that span, but three of those goals came Saturday night. In fact, the Islanders have only scored seven goals during 5-on-5 play in their last 10 games, easily the worst in the NHL where the next nearest team - the Philadelphia Flyers - have 12 goals. It was the Islanders’ tenth straight loss but their best offensive effort over that span - although none of the goals came at 5-on-5. The Islanders are also playing in their second game in two nights, coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.