Fatigue Not an Excuse for New York Islanders After Letting Lead Slip Away in Minnesota

The New York Islanders have traveled 11,137.5 mils so far this season, but the road-weary hockey team wasn’t looking to use their whacky schedule as an excuse for why they weren’t able to close out the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night in their 5-2 loss.

The Islanders allowed a 2-1 lead to slip away amid a third period where New York appeared to take its foot off the gas. The period was plagued by an issue that has popped up during the course of the first 10 games and that’s been the consistency in the Islanders’ game.

Sunday was the second game of a back-to-back and it was the third game in four nights that the New York Islanders played. head coach Barry Trotz wasn’t buying that it had anything to do with the outcome in Minnesota.

“I think we managed it pretty well, the rest,” Trotz said. They played last night too. It has nothing to do with fatigue or anything like that. They had a push we just didn’t weather their storm. That’s to me the disappointing thing. When they tied it up we had to have our push. Take the crowd out of it and all of that. We just didn’t get there. We needed guys to step up.

“Yesterday I felt like I had four lines all going. Today we didn’t. We were missing a couple of lines today so that’s on us. We have to be more consistent there.”

🎥 Trotz Postgame Availability 🎥 pic.twitter.com/q8FBzWBMkd

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) November 8, 2021

Trotz didn’t specifically mention who he felt were the missing lines, but Sunday marked the first time in the past three games that the second line collectively didn’t register a point. And New York looked like they were back on their heels during different points of the game, none more so than during the third period.

The New York Islanders allowed three high danger chances during the third period while generating none of their own, according to Natural Stat Trick. They were also outshot by Minnesota 16-2 in the final frame.

“They came into the third with a little bit more jump,” Zdeno Chara said. “They were playing more on their toes. We were just sitting on that lead and not playing the way we are capable of. It’s something that we can take away from this game and be better down the road.”

Chara added: “It has nothing to do with the fatigue. It has more to do with being ready to finish the games.”