By Brian Bohl
Champagne wasn’t flowing in the Islanders dressing room. No celebrations took place inside the Nassau Coliseum’s hallways.
There was only relief following a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Tuesday night. After posting a season-high 47 shots against a division rival, the Isles might have temporarily saved their season, but realistically just postponed the inevitable slither out of postseason contention.
Even on a positive night, the club suffered a debilitating loss. Leading-shot blocker Brendan Witt exited the Flyers contest after suffering a sprained knee. A weakened defense corps will take another hit if Witt, the team’s leading shot-blocker, misses any significant time. Already, coach Ted Nolan’s team is facing the stretch run without injured blue-liners Chris Campoli and Bruno Gervais.
Any extended absence for Witt would force Nolan to play Marc-Andre Bergeron, Bryan Berard and Aaron Johnson at the same time, putting even more pressure on goalie Rick DiPietro to elevate his All-Star caliber of play to compensate for a lackluster offensive attack.
“It’s big,” Nolan said. “Losing Campoli was big. We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves. Brendan is one of those tough individuals. Hopefully he can do some of that magic and kept back a little bit quicker.”
Entering Wednesday night, the Islanders remained five points behind Buffalo for the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot.
By beating the Flyers, the club snapped a seven-game losing streak and kept themselves in the crowded playoff chase. It also ended a seven-game home losing streak; a stretch nearly 17 percent of the 41-game home schedule that will extenuate the decline from inside the postseason picture to helpless also-rans when the Stanley Cup tournament commences.
Most likely, the Islanders will be sellers rather than buyers during the impending trade deadline chaos. Witt’s injury came days after Mike Sillinger was forced to sit after hurting his hip.
The offense already claims the NHL’s least productive offense, scoring a league-low 138 goals. By comparison, eight teams in the conference already have posted more than 160 goals.
Combine the sputtering scoring lines with injuries to key players, and general manager Garth Snow’s mission is clear: start dealing.
Veterans like Miroslav Satan and Mike Comrie could be on the block since they can become free agents this summer. Contenders such as Ottawa, Montreal, and a host of others might be willing to surrender prospects or draft selections to bolster depth, meaning the Isles can start building for a future by accumulating more picks in what experts are describing as a deep draft.
Considering Snow’s group is closer to last place than a playoff spot, trading pieces would be the logical step. After the Philadelphia win, Ruslan Fedotenko said the dressing room was happy with the result and will try to use it as a springboard to a late flurry.
“Obviously we were struggling a little at home, and that was a big win for us, especially against a division team,” Fedotenko said on Tuesday. “It’s really important, especially at this time of the year. We just need to find our game, and I think tonight we did.
“We have a lot of division games that can be four-point [swings]. We have a lot of games left, and we’ve been right in the mix. If we win seven [consecutively], we’ll be right back where we started.”
Fedotenko’s words are heartening to fans and front office executives who still want to hold out hope, but selling off assets is the practical move that focuses on the future, which hopefully for the franchise represents better times than the present.