The countdown is on now, you can see it and feel it. The Islanders’ woebegone season never quite reached the level of dysfunction that the Rangers seem to have perfected, but everyone would like to hit fast-forward to Friday morning when it will be over and done with.
After Sunday’s 1-0 win over the Devils, there’s two games left to go. If they can end the season on a positive note, great. If not, well, everyone is going to forget about this anyway.
That’s the state of things and if it’s a bummer to see it laid out then, hey, it’s just the plain truth. Pandemic-affected seasons aside, the Islanders winning on Sunday means they passed the 2017-18 group for recent ignominy; another win and they’ll tie the 2021-22 team on points.
Coaches Doug Weight and Barry Trotz were fired after those two respective seasons.
The good news on Sunday was that Ilya Sorokin returned to the crease after suffering a lower-body injury on Tuesday night in Nashville.
It’s reasonable to ask why the Islanders would risk another injury by starting him for the 60th time this season in a meaningless game; to that, recall that the other two options on Sunday were Marcus Hogberg for a second consecutive day or Tristan Lennox, who is anything but ready to play in the NHL, as coach Patrick Roy realized 4:43 after inserting him into Thursday’s loss to the Rangers.
In any case, Sorokin being healthy enough to play — and to turn aside 24 shots for his fourth shutout of the season — is a sigh of relief, even if Sunday ends up being the last time he plays this season. The Islanders have been decimated by injuries all year long, the last thing they need between now and Thursday is for another player to go down, which brings us to the bad news: Paul Cotter’s hit on Adam Pelech.
A bloodied and furious Pelech left the game after Cotter connected with his head at 6:00 of the second, slamming his helmet to the ice and screaming at the Devils winger, who was in turn hit with a match penalty for a hit to the head.
Pelech did not return, with the team citing an upper-body injury (and it’s worth noting, has a history of concussions).
After Sorokin was hurt Tuesday, Pierre Engvall suffered a scare with his knee on Saturday. And now with Pelech’s injury, you wouldn’t blame the Islanders for opting to bubble wrap some players for their last two games. That, though, doesn’t appear to be the plan.
As for the game itself, Bo Horvat broke the ice by quickly firing off Timo Meier’s turnover at 19:03 of the second, putting the Islanders up 1-0 after two mostly listless periods (including a spectacularly hapless five-minute power play after Cotter’s hit). The Islanders got set up just one time in five minutes, and by the end of the man advantage, were running normal lines and pairs, with Matt Martin even getting 28 seconds at five-on-four.
No matter, Horvat’s goal was enough to defeat a disorganized Devils team that needs to get itself into shape before a first-round series against Carolina next week.
The Islanders, though, have no such worries.
For them, it’s on to Tuesday. And then on to the finish.
