It’s going to be a sour Thanksgiving for the Islanders, and that’s something they’re entirely used to.
Continuing their seasonal second-month swoon, the Islanders dropped their fourth game in a row on Wednesday night at the Coliseum, a 3-2 loss to the Jets that was as disheartening as it was predictable.
For the past four years, the Islanders (8-14-3) have made it a habit of falling to pieces in the second month of the season — which traditionally has been November, but was February last season as a result of the lockout. This loss was the Islanders’ ninth in the past 11 games, and took them to 4-9 this month. Over the past four years, their record in the second month is now 13-33-5.
“I wish I had an answer,” forward Frans Nielsen said before the game. “I was actually wondering the other day what our record is in November in the last four years.”
When told, Nielsen still had little in a way of an explanation.
“I knew it,” he said. “For some reason we do struggle, but I don’t have an answer.”
John Tavares got his 11th goal of the season with just under six minutes remaining in the third to cut the lead to 3-2, but by then, it was too little, too late.
Though the Islanders often dictated the pace of the game, they had a lackadaisical couple of minutes in the second period and the Jets (12-11-4) made them pay. Just over 11 minutes in, it was fourth-line center James Wright winning a draw backward, and defenseman Mark Stuart taking it off the wall and firing a slap shot past Kevin Poulin’s glove for a 1-0 lead.
It was almost identical to the goal Evander Kane scored on Monday night at the Prudential Center, when the Jets opened this six-game road trip with a 3-1 win over the Devils.
Just about three minutes after Stuart’s goal, Islanders rookie defenseman Matt Donovan tried to rush the puck through the neutral zone and was stripped by Bryan Little. The Jets went the other way on a 3-on-2, and captain Andrew Ladd slipped a backhand passed Poulin, making it 2-0.
Not done just yet, the Jets piled on a third goal two minutes later when Devin Setoguchi tipped one from the high slot, his sixth of the season.
The Islanders didn’t allow their former backstop, Al Montoya, to walk out with the shutout, though. Andrew MacDonald fired a power-play slap shot with just over two minutes remaining the second, cutting the lead to 3-1. It was the Islanders’ second power-play goal in their previous 23 attempts.
The Islanders pushed the play in the scoreless first, and got two golden opportunities when the Jets took two penalties in sequence late in the period. Though the power-play group generated a lot of zone time and a handful of shots, they couldn’t beat Montoya.
But on the second chances, with just under three minutes remaining in the frame, it was do-it-all defenseman Dustin Byfuglein getting behind Montoya and making a left-leg kick save on a deflection in front, keeping the game scoreless.