Quiet, Frustrated Islanders Room; Takeaways After 5-2 Loss

ELMONT, N.Y. — The New York Islanders (32-29-10) lost 5-2 to the Vancouver Canucks (34-26-12) on Wednesday night in UBS Arena. The Canucks are now 4-0-0 in their history at UBS Arena. The Islanders’ six-game point streak (3-0-3) came to an end.

The loss is crippling for the Islanders’ playoff hopes. Moneypuck.com drops their playoff odds to 18.6% after the loss. What’s more, they had a chance to take sole ownership of the second wild card position. Instead, they remain in ninth place while the Montreal Canadiens play tomorrow and Friday.

The Islanders had a chance to move into that playoff spot for the first time since November 19, 127 days ago. Instead, they collapsed. For a fourth-straight game, the Islanders blew a lead on home ice. Now, they have to ship down to Tampa Bay and Raleigh for what will be an extremely challenging back-to-back with the Lightning and Hurricanes.

Islanders Room: Quiet, Frustrated, No Answers

After getting pulled, Ilya Sorokin spoke with the media briefly. He took some blame for his role, allowing four goals on just 19 shots and getting pulled early in the third. It was far from his best performance. His coach Patrick Roy disagreed, adamantly stating he only pulled Sorokin to try and get a spark.

Likewise, Adam Pelech spoke after he and Noah Dobson went -2 in a frustrating game. Asked about his own performance, Pelech said, “I don’t think it was my best. It’s disappointing, especially those last two goals. I just really think it wasn’t good enough tonight in a kind of must-win game.”

I then asked what he thought changed as the game went on, from a point of clear Islanders’ control to Vancouver running roughshod. Pelech didn’t have an answer, simply stating, “[It’s] Hard to say. I don’t know.”

Maxim Tsyplakov called the blown leads “so bad” and called on himself and the entire team to play better while ahead.

As for Roy, he liked the game overall. He admitted they made a lot of detail mistakes and called out Anthony DeAngelo’s awful coverage on Aatu Raty’s 2-2 goal, but said those are small mistakes. As has become his staple, he found the positive. He showered praise on Casey Cizikas, easily the best Islander on the ice tonight.

Takeaways:

Takeaway #1: Noah Dobson is getting immensely unlucky. Dobson’s a -7 in the last four games. On the surface, that’s bad. In reality, Dobson’s received a .773 save percentage when he’s on the ice. 10 goals on 44 shots. For reference, Ryan Pulock has received a .931 save percentage over 58 shots when he’s on the ice. It’s a brutal PDO run for Dobson.

All season, Dobson’s put up the best analytics of his career. According to NaturalStatTrick, Dobson has a career-high 54.51 expected goals for percentage, up 4.03% from last season and almost a full 5% from his career average. Ditto for Scoring Chances For vs Chances Against. Do the same for High Danger Chances; it’s clearly his best overall season.

All those numbers lead to his PDO. A PDO is the team’s shooting percentage added to the team’s save percentage. Dobson’s individual PDO is a career-low .997. Having anything below .997 is a sign of bad luck, something Dobson’s had plenty of this season. All this to say, all the numbers show Dobson’s still a #1 defenseman. It’s an unlucky season overall for the still-young 25-year-old.

Takeaway #2: The Anthony DeAngelo experience is unlike any I can recall. His flashy moments offensively are tantalizing. His goal tonight shows his prowess around the net. Defensively, he’s a wreck. He did not come close to covering Aatu Raty on Vancouver’s second-period equalizer. He plays heavy minutes and usually keeps everything above board for the eye test. Analytically, he’s the same as he’s always been. Very below-average defensively. Great offensively. One thing he’s doing quite well is generating high-danger chances. He’s got his best HDCF% since 2021-22.

Takeaway #3: Ilya Sorokin had an off night. It happens. The two deflections aren’t on him, but you’d really like a save on the Derek Forbort or Teddy Blueger goals. The Islanders have to hope they win that game on Saturday in Tampa. If desperation sets in, they could try him on a back-to-back against the Hurricanes, but that guarantees him facing 70+ shots in just over 24 hours. That’s a tall ask for any goalie.

Closing Thought: This entire homestand has become a big missed opportunity. The Islanders held leads in their last four games in the final 30 minutes of each. Their opponents walked away with 7/8 possible points, while New York received just four points. Ouch.