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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
It’s said that the weather can affect one’s mood and energy. If you walked into UBS Arena feeling down due to the downpour, you left feeling worse after watching the Isles be outclassed by a highly-skilled and relentless Vancouver Canucks team clicking on all cylinders.
The Isles are simply a bad defensive team right now. They’re giving up more high-danger shots than last year, and the goaltending hasn’t been quite as elite - a bad combination against the highest-scoring team in the league.
After a decent start, the Isles took a penalty, Casey Cizikas got hurt, the Canucks scored, and things unraveled from there. Quinn Hughes was allowed to walk free from the half boards and scored to make it 2-0 before the first intermission. It was the first time all season the Isles trailed by multiple goals after the first period.
Vancouver was playing the back half of a back-to-back and started their backup goaltender, but still managed to outwork an Islanders team that is now 4-5-3 over their last 12 games. The loss marks the first time in nearly two months that the Islanders have lost back-to-back games in regulation and it’s come in humbling losses to Vegas and Vancouver.
At practice on Monday, head coach Lane Lambert emphasized structure and coverage, but those tweaks didn’t take, and Adam Pelech struggled in his return to the lineup. The loss marks the first time in nearly two months that the Islanders lost back-to-back games in regulation and it’s come in humbling losses to Vegas and Vancouver. They’ll need to improve individually and collectively as this tough stretch of opponents rolls on this month with no let-up.
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