There were plenty of valid reasons why the New York Islanders lost two of three games on their recent West Coast road trip.
But now the Islanders know they are in must-win mode the rest of the season, no matter how undermanned or bedraggled they might become.
The Islanders will attempt to stay on the fringes of the Eastern Conference wild-card race Friday night when they open a two-game homestand by facing the Edmonton Oilers in Elmont, N.Y.
The Islanders have been off since Tuesday night, when they closed their Pacific Division trek with a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. The Oilers will look to salvage the finale of a road-to-road back set after they gave up consecutive goals in the third period Thursday night and fell to the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in Newark, N.J.
For the Islanders, the second straight wire-to-wire defeat left them with a 1-2-0 record on their trip and ensured they wouldn’t gain any ground in the playoff race.
They enter Friday five points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers, who are tied for the final Eastern wild-card berth with 70 points apiece.
The road trip marked the first three games the Islanders played without star center Brock Nelson, who was traded to the Colorado Avalanche on March 6. The Islanders’ lineup was particularly lean in a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night, when New York completed a back-to-back set with defenseman Adam Boqvist playing center on the fourth line because Kyle MacLean was out due to illness and with Marcus Hogberg returning from a 14-game absence due to a finger injury in order to give Ilya Sorokin his first game off since Feb. 2.
The Islanders suffered from more bad luck when MacLean returned but Boqvist exited in the second period after absorbing a shoulder-to-shoulder check from Kings left winger Kevin Fiala. New York also had two power-play goals waved off due to goalie interference and finished 0-for-8 on the man advantage.
“We played well, but (at) this time of the year, there’s no moral victories,” Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson said. “We need the two points.”
Despite a much sturdier place in the playoff race, the situation might be on the verge of becoming similarly urgent for the Oilers, who enter Friday one point behind the second-place Kings in the Pacific and seven points clear of the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, who are tied for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.
But the loss Thursday to New Jersey was the second straight and the eighth in the last 11 games (3-8-0) for the Oilers, whose skid has knocked them out of first place in the Pacific Division. Edmonton has gone from two points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights to seven points behind since the slump began Feb. 7.
The Oilers’ 209 goals this season are the fifth-most in the Western Conference. But Edmonton has scored three goals or less nine times in the last 11 games and has just four goals total in its last two defeats.
Leon Draisaitl tied the score Thursday with his NHL-leading 47th goal just beyond the midway point of the second period before Evan Bouchard put the Oilers ahead 4:18 into the third, but Jesper Bratt and Simon Nemec scored the tying and game-winning goals less than four minutes later.
“Everyone knows we’re going through a tough stretch right now and things aren’t easy,” Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak said. “We kind of talk amongst ourselves in the room, and we’ve got to stick together. We can’t start pointing fingers at anyone; none of us are happy. That’s kind of the easy thing to do when you get frustrated, but we’ve got to stick together and we’ll dig ourselves out.”
–Field Level Media
