Missed Opportunity

Isles fail to move into playoff spot; lose 5-2 to Canucks

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Good Morning, Islanders Country.

After Tuesday night’s scoreboard broke perfectly for the Islanders, you may have been daydreaming about refreshing the NHL standings around 10 PM and seeing the Islanders above the playoff line for the first time since Nov. 19th.

Instead, a dose of reality was served as the Isles six-game point streak came to an end with a 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at UBS Arena. “It just wasn't good enough tonight in kind of a must-win game,” defenseman Adam Pelech said. “We're just disappointed with our performance.”

The loss closed out a stretch that could be defined as one big missed opportunity. The team finished its four-game homestand at just 1-1-2 against four mid-level opponents, holding and blowing leads in all four games on home ice.

The Islanders have been better than many of the teams vying for the final playoff spot, but they have only been playing well when better than that is required to pull off the improbable task of making the post-season without Mathew Barzal and after trading Brock Nelson.

The last three games, all losses (0-1-2), have been “We played well, but” games. In the post-game, Patrick Roy bemoaned the importance of the details. The Islanders, as constructed, are a team that has to excel at the details to be successful and overcome games when some players don’t play their best.