This primary sport of a seven-game homestand felt extra like the primary day again from trip for the Islanders, and never in a great way.
In lots of methods, that’s what the three-game street journey previous Tuesday — all wins — was.
A break from what the remainder of a largely disappointing season has been.
The Islanders have been, out of nowhere, going into the buildings of playoff groups and profitable.
Again in their very own yard, towards an Jap Convention opponent in what amounted to a four-point sport within the chase for the second wild-card spot, this seemed extra just like the product the Islanders have put out for many of the season and the Senators got here away 2-0 victors.
The Islanders carried over the physicality and laborious protection that sustained them out West.
However offensively, they struggled as a lot as ever, failing to interrupt the puck out for a lot of the night time and thus, failing to do a lot of something towards a goalie in Leevi Merilainen who began simply his ninth-ever NHL sport.
The outcome, after a would-be Adam Gaudette aim was waved off a couple of minutes into the night time following Patrick Roy’s profitable goalie interference problem, was a sport of attrition, through which each inch of ice was fought over.
That’s the type of match through which the Islanders can typically thrive, however not as usually as in previous years, and never Tuesday.
The Islanders misplaced floor quick, and located themselves enjoying a lot of the sport in their very own zone earlier than they knew it.
With out Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Ilya Sorokin, each out with sickness, the Islanders have been shorthanded.
However this wasn’t about their accidents or the bug going across the locker room, which pressured Marc Gatcomb into an NHL debut through emergency call-up and Marcus Hogberg right into a second straight begin within the crease.
The highest line, which drove play all night time lengthy two nights earlier in Utah, was bottled up all night time enjoying largely towards Brady Tkachuk’s line for the Senators.
That solely put Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal in the identical group as the remainder of the Islanders, who couldn’t get something going irrespective of who was on the ice.
It didn’t assist issues that the ability play continued marching towards the abyss, getting nothing on its lone alternative to increase a scoreless streak to 25 straight possibilities relationship again effectively over a month.
Ottawa held a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes courtesy of a Gaudette tip-in 8:42 into the second — avenging the sooner no-goal — and the query was whether or not the Islanders would present the identical resilience that they had in Salt Lake Metropolis.
The reply, resoundingly, was no.
Outdoors of Hogberg, who continued to make a great case for himself within the web, the Islanders performed the third with much less tenacity than they did the primary or second.
Any type of offensive traction past the odd probability right here or there by no means got here.
Somewhat, they spent extra time in their very own zone and relied on the goalie to maintain the sport shut, failing to even file a high-danger probability over the ultimate 20 minutes.
That Hogberg did — Ottawa’s second aim got here through Artem Zub’s slap shot into an empty web — so at the least there was one constructive from the night time.
This group, although, is long gone the purpose the place silver linings matter, particularly towards a Senators membership which is competing for a similar wild-card spot as them.
Trip’s over for the Islanders. It’s again to the lengthy, laborious winter of the East — they usually’re going to wish greater than this to outlive it.