On Sunday, the Islanders were eliminated from playoff contention after a 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. It was the team’s second home loss in two days, after succumbing on Saturday to the Ottawa Senators, 5-0. Incredibly, the Islanders were outscored at home 9-1 with a playoff spot on the line.
The Isles put themselves in this predicament by going 0-for-4 a couple of weeks ago, losing to Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Carolina. Instead of seizing a playoff spot, they played themselves out of one.
Here’s the cold, hard truth is this: The Islanders were never a good team. The offense was offensive, and the defense offered little balance. The Islanders tried one last desperate jolt: firing Patrick Roy and hiring Pete DeBoer. It worked for one game against the woeful Maple Leafs. Then, they were exposed for what they were in DeBoer’s last two games.
The Islanders have too many veterans who are past their best, including Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Bo Horvat, Casey Cizikas, Anders Lee, Ondrej Palat, and Scott Mayfield. The vets also failed when leadership was needed most. How many times have we seen them come up small when it matters the most?
Matthew Schaefer (photo courtesy St. Albert Gazette)
They let the team down more than Patrick Roy ever did. Indeed, you can make a case that the deposed Islanders head coach had them overachieving until everything fell apart. Moreover, outside of Matthew Schaefer, Max Shabanov, Cal Ritchie, and Emil Heineman, the Islanders were boring to watch.
They would have been one of the league’s worst teams this year if not for the young players’ impact over the last few months. But once they wore down a month ago, the Islanders were in trouble.
The bottom line is obvious. To miss the playoffs makes this season a failure, and now ownership and management have to answer plenty of questions about where the Islanders go from here.
For one thing, this team needs players to support Schaefer’s play. A talent like his deserves a chance to see what he can do in hockey’s second season. But the even more tragic situation is that the team wasted a gift, picking him #1 last year and then not doing what was needed to enable him to succeed.
The reason is that the Islanders need to improve the roster with scorers and size. For starters, they need a power-play scorer and an enforcer to protect Schaefer. They also need to put a premium on developing younger players and building a cohesive team culture among newer and veteran players.
What the Islanders do in the offseason is going to be more interesting than what they did during the season. This team can’t afford to squander opportunities over the next few months.
