By Brian Bohl
UNIONDALE, N.Y. – No team in the NHL has compiled fewer points than the Islanders paltry total of seven entering Tuesday’s game against the Rangers. That’s the bad news, even if the 3-7-1 start is consistent with many preseason predictions.
But while the Islanders will likely endure a season-long struggle to escape the cellar, there are a few positives to take out of a typically gut-wrenching week for the team’s players and fans. Consider the ugly 5-4 loss to Montreal Saturday, where the Islanders surrendered four third-period goals to lose in regulation to the Canadiens.
Blowing a three-goal lead in less than 10 minutes is obviously a demoralizing way to lose a game. Yet considering the Islanders will not make the playoffs, there were some good signs for the future. For 40 minutes, an overmatched club playing its third-string goaltender outskated and outworked a Montreal team that is currently 8-1-1 and a contender for the Stanley Cup.
First-year coach Scott Gordon’s high-pressure system produced positive results against an elite team. Montreal was able to mount a comeback mainly because the undermanned Islanders are forced to use retreads like Brett Skinner on defense instead of veteran stalwarts like the injured Brendan Witt.
Before the game, the franchise announced All-Star goalie Rick DiPietro will be out 4-6 weeks following arthroscopic knee surgery. That prompted Danis’ first NHL start since 2005. Danis will serve primarily as the No. 2 netminder behind Joey MacDonald until DiPietro returns, which could be after January.
Don’t expect teams to take it easy on the Islanders because of goaltending issues. Regulation games are 60 minutes, and the Islanders will need to play a full three periods to pick up wins the rest of the way. That lesson was reinforced Monday when the Isles built a 3-0 lead heading into the second intermission but once again failed to show a killer instinct. This time, Gordon’s group came out of it with a 4-3 overtime win, though it underscored a major problem.
Chris Campoli’s goal 3:13 into overtime allowed the home team to escape with the two points. The defenseman acknowledged that a new coach and system is contributing to the early season struggles. A win against Columbus, compared to the previous loss, could actually be seen a positive step even if the victory agonized the few loyal fans who still come to Nassau Coliseum.
“Right now, we’re trying to find our identity,” Campoli said Monday. “We’re finding a way to play teams hard. Montreal is a good team, we played them really hard for 40 minutes and we couldn’t finish them off.
“[Columbus], they’re a good club, too, but we kind of let up. An inexperienced team like ourselves, we’ve got to find a way to continue to stay on the gas.”
Inexperience and unfamiliarity with a new system still shouldn’t be used as a crutch. The Islanders visibly started to press when Tomas Plekanec scored two straight goals to make it 4-3 Islanders, starting a string of four Canadiens goals in less than eight minutes for the comeback.
After that contest, Gordon still described a lack of forecheck for the collapse. But forechecking, which is basically defensive pressure in the neutral zones by the forwards, has become a panacea for all of the Isles’ problems. The Islanders were out-shot, 16-4, in the third period in the Montreal game. The offense stopped generating chances, the defense sagged back and almost everyone started gripping the stick too tightly.
“We played well for 40 minutes and stopped,” defenseman Mark Streit said. “I don’t know what we expected. We gave them hope and life and they took advantage of it.”
Gordon has emphasized the importance of a forecheck since he took over as head coach before training camp. Yet stressing defensive pressure is something every NHL team does, and to suggest that this system is new would be like an NFL defense suggesting it is changing strategy by trying to pressure a quarterback. It’s not as if Ted Nolan disregarded forechecking in his two years as coach, which included a playoff appearance in 2006-07.
No matter who is behind the bench, winning hockey games will predicated on playing smart with the puck and taking advantage of power plays and offensive chances. With DiPietro out of the lineup, limiting turnovers and penalties will be the keys for the Islanders to move out of last place in the Atlantic Division.
Entering Tuesday, the Islanders have surrendered 61 power play chances, tied for third most in the league. “In the end, we ask a lot of penalty killers every night,” Guerin said after a 5-3 loss to Dallas on Oct. 23. “They play a lot short-handed and it’s not easy to do. It’s very taxing. It’s hard on the forwards, the ‘D’ and our goalie. That’s a problem we’ll have to address.”