Drawing Dead: Isles Lose Fifth Straight, Playoff Odds Plummet

One day after falling behind 4-0 and setting themselves up for failure, the New York Islanders (32-31-10) fell behind 2-0 early, came back, and took a 3-2 lead before the Carolina Hurricanes (45-24-4) surged back and won 6-4.

For a third straight game, goaltending let New York down. Marcus Hogberg looked the part of an initial third-stringer, whiffing on some low-danger attempts and helped do the Islanders in.

In totality, the game may not have played out the same way, but it’s strikingly similar to yesterday’s result. Good offensive output undone by bad defense and mediocre goaltending.

Alexander Romanov, demoted to the third pair, struggled mightily. His turnover late in the third gifted the Hurricanes the dagger goal, putting them up 6-4. He played just 17:16. Adam Pelech started poorly but improved significantly as the game went on. Noah Dobson took two penalties and finished -2. He did, however, make a nice play to help set up a Kyle Palmieri power-play goal.

Playoff Odds Plummet:

Before the puck dropped in Tampa Bay yesterday, the Islanders had roughly a 25% chance to make the playoffs, according to moneypuck.com. Those odds, following both losses along with an upset Montreal victory today have dropped the odds below 10%.

Losing five straight games will do that. In four of the five losses, the Islanders held a lead in the second period or later. In two of those, they held a lead in the final 10 minutes. Death by a thousand cuts.

It’s not going to get any easier for the Islanders. They once again play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday in UBS Arena. Friday brings a desperate but depleted Minnesota Wild squad. One week from today brings the Gr8 Chase and Alex Ovechkin into UBS Arena for the first time this season. The Islanders will be underdogs in all three games.

They are now three points back of the Canadiens with zero games in hand. They also trail the New York Rangers by three points with a game in hand. The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets have passed the Islanders. The blue and orange now sit 12th in the Eastern Conference and 23rd in the NHL, good for the 10th overall pick if the season ended today.

All this to say, it’s a major uphill climb from here.

Hey, Look On the Bright Side:

Despite his glaring turnover on one shift, Pelech had a strong game overall. He’s continued to find his form from the past, even if he may not be at that elite level, he’s consistently reliable.

Elsewhere, Adam Boqvist played a sheltered 15 minutes and change but looked decent. Carolina’s speed and forecheck seemed to get to him, but on the whole, it was another strong showing.

Pierre Engvall has revived himself. He scored two goals in his first-ever multigoal NHL game. He, Casey Cizikas, and Hudson Fasching led the way again tonight. They won their minutes and continued to have real chemistry.

The power play looked good. It even scored another goal, just the second time this season, with a power play goal in consecutive games. Progress is progress, whether or not they won.

Back to Negatives:

The new-look top six didn’t yield much. Anders Lee scored his 27th of the year, but at 5-on-5, Carolina beat up New York’s top six. Carolina’s won 11 of their last 13, so that likely has something to do with it, but alas.

Marcus Hogberg did not play well. He needed to stop Seth Jarvis’ shorthanded goal. The game-winning goal is another regret for Hogberg. Despite the crowd, Dmitry Orlov’s shot beat him. Postgame, he told Newsday’s Andrew Gross he wanted those two back. His coach, Patrick Roy, agreed, saying he wanted more out of Hogberg tonight.

Romanov and Dobson’s struggles continued. They had the worst analytics per NatStatTrick, and it visually looked that way. Maybe it’s good news because their contract extensions will be cheaper. In any event, the two young defenders have become the biggest liabilities on the backend during this stretch run.