No Excuses, Plenty of Reasons

Isles must take responsibility for their disappointing year

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

Reasons become excuses when they are used to avoid responsibility - that’s the key difference between the two. The Islanders haven’t made excuses for their disappointing season, but we can acknowledge there were plenty of reasons for it.

As long as they remain reasons, there’s a good chance organization does their damnedest to upgrade the roster. While choosing to blame a 13-game road trip, COVID, and a condensed schedule may be convenient for fans, it avoids both responsibility and the underlying issues that plagued the season.

This team isn’t going to miss the playoffs by two or four points. Yes, the Islanders were dealt a bad hand and then drew a worse one, but even when healthy, they struggled against faster, more dynamic playoff teams. No clear-eyed fan could watch this team play the Panthers, Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, or Lightning and come away thinking they were on the same level.

They had enough scoring and top-caliber goaltending to beat the teams they passed on their way to 9th in the conference but that can’t be enough to give the front office confidence that avoiding a bad hand is all that stands between them and another long playoff run.

The majority of the roster might be built for playoff hockey, but you have to get there first, and in an ultra-competitive Eastern Conference with young teams coming along, placing a bet that a ‘normal season’ would have generated vastly different results could lead to a repeat of results.

Coming up, Barzy’s tug on an old friend gets him fined and Butch is expected back in the booth. Plus, it will be an emotional night at UBS Arena and as you were sleeping last night, it was the 35th anniversary of one of the most epic endings in NHL history.

Let’s dive in.

📰 NEWS: The NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Mathew Barzal has been fined $2,500, for Unsportsmanlike Conduct for playfully holding onto Mitch Marner from the bench during the Islanders’ 4-2 loss to the Leafs.

“That’s pretty funny,” Marner told Sportsnet’s Shawn McKenzie in a post-game interview. “Hopefully, he gets fined for that. That would be great. I’ve known him for a long time, we’ve played against each other for a long time, and we had the chance to play with each other a couple [of] times. He’s a hell of a player, he’s a lot of fun to watch out there, but it’s definitely a first… pretty funny.”

◾️ After missing several games recovering from shoulder surgery, MSG Networks analyst Butch Goring will return to the Islanders booth tonight and reunite with Brendan Burke when the Islanders host the Florida Panthers.

◾️ Anson Carter, Joe Micheletti, and Cheryl Pounder served as analysts alongside Brendan Burke for recent games and even EJ Hradek worked alongside Bridgeport Islanders play-by-play voice Alan Fuehring for a game.

⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders are back at UBS Arena tonight to take on the Florida Panthers at 7:30 p.m. Florida is the hottest team in the NHL, having extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 6-1 rout of the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. There will be a special tribute to the life of Mike Bossy before the game.

📊 STANDINGS:

Tonight’s game versus the Florida Panthers will be the team’s first at home since the death of Isles’ great Mike Bossy. An emotionally charged and touching tribute to the greatest goal scorer of his generation is expected.

◾️ FLOWERS FOR BOSSY: The organization is encouraging fans to bring flowers to place in front of Bossy’s plaque on the Hall of Fame wall on the main concourse at UBS Arena.

◾️ EMOTIONALLY ENGAGED: “It should pull us emotionally into it,” coach Barry Trotz said after Sunday night’s 4-2 loss in Toronto. “This is a legend, not only with the Islander family but a legend around the league. We should be emotionally engaged because of what he meant to the franchise, to the personal relationships with a lot of these guys that he had, especially the veteran players.”

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📚 SOUND SMART: The most epic of performances 35 years ago came from Islanders goaltender Kelly Hrudey. The blue bandana-wearing netminder made an NHL record 73 saves in the Islanders’ 3-2 4OT thriller over the Washington Capitals, breaking the previous record held by Bernie Parent, who made 63 saves for the Philadelphia Flyers against the St Louis Blues on April 16, 1968.

Hrudey’s playoff record was only recently topped by Columbus’ Joonas Korpisalo has the most saves in a playoff game, with a whopping 85 saves versus the Lightning in Game 1 of their series on August 11, 2020. Hrudey talked about this game and more with Chris Botta on Hockey Press Pass earlier this season.

🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On April 17, 1987, the Islanders and Washington Capitals played the longest Game 7 in NHL history, forever known as the Easter Epic because while it started on Saturday night it ended just before 2 a.m. on Easter Sunday morning. Pat LaFontaine scored the winner at 8:47 of the fourth overtime, spinning and firing a shot past a screened Caps goalie Bob Mason for the dramatic win. Watch Bryan Trottier and LaFontaine talk about the win:

🎧 Nassaumen Hockey Podcast: “The Islanders were officially eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sunday after losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs. James and Jon break down the Islanders' season, diving into what went right and what went wrong.”

🔗 “With Islanders Eliminated, Team Must Look to an Offseason of Change,” by Jon Zella, The Hockey Writers: “As Islander fans cope with the team being out of this year’s playoffs, they’ll be waiting with bated breath for Lamoriello and the rest of management to right the wrongs of this past season. All is not lost, however; we saw the Tampa Bay Lightning and San Jose Sharks rebound after missing the playoffs, and even the Pittsburgh Penguins had down years between Cups.”

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And we leave you with this…Nashville Predators writer for The Athletic, Adam Vingan tweeted that NHL goalies have posted just a .883 Sv% this season when on zero days rest. But no rest is needed for Ilya Sorokin who has a .957 Sv% in that scenario.

Graphic courtesy @FishermanHky

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