Following a 4-1 loss to the Devils on Thursday night, Mathew Barzal attributed the Islanders’ myriad offensive issues to a problem dealing with their opponents’ speed.
The greater problem: The Islanders are about to face five teams in a row that have speed — and skill — in droves. After a back-to-back this weekend at the Lightning and the Panthers, they come home to play the Rangers, then have another back-to-back, at Carolina and at home against the defending-champion Avalanche.
That stretch includes three of the four conference finalists last season, the Presidents’ Trophy winners and the Metropolitan Division winners.
So, if they don’t figure out a way to deal with speed quickly, their 2-2 start could become a nightmare by Halloween.
“I don’t think we played a team with that kind of speed yet,” Barzal said. “That’s a fast hockey club over there. They make a ton of plays. Just got hit with a lot of speed. We were turning pucks over and feeding it. That was the main key, I think, tonight.”
The night was a gut punch after two straight encouraging performances in which the Islanders beat the Ducks 7-1 and topped the Sharks 5-2. The Devils, a division rival with their own issues — mainly goaltending — represented a beatable foe before a tough stretch.
If Thursday foreshadowed what is to come, though, the Islanders are going to have a big problem on their hands, and fast.
“I’d say just put pucks in better spots,” Barzal said, when asked how they can better deal with the speed of their opposition. “Not turn the puck over. More cycle game, can’t turn the puck over, can’t get shots blocked. Just gotta feed our cycle game down low. Hopefully it’ll close down the transition game with these fast teams.”
Coach Lane Lambert did not have much to say afterward, but he too knows the Islanders must be better when they face the Lightning on Saturday.
“To a man, we all know we’re better than that,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We’ll look at it and learn from it, cause that’s what we have to do, and we’ll move on.”
The fisherman jersey is back.
The Islanders will be donning their doomed look of the mid-1990s six times this season as part of the NHL’s reverse retro jersey initiative, the team announced Thursday. The jersey has the same fisherman logo the Islanders donned in 1995-96, though the color scheme is slightly different.
The look will make its 2022-23 debut on Dec. 10 at home against the Hurricanes. The Islanders will also wear it for home games on Dec. 23, Dec. 27, Jan. 12, Jan. 21 and Jan. 28.
The Islanders assigned Bode Wilde to the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators and forward Richard Panik to Lausanne HC in the Swiss-A League.
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