So the line in the sand might instead be drawn in snow, as the Islanders have very quickly run out of excuses and are quickly running out of time as Wednesday night’s outdoor game at Yankee Stadium against the Rangers looms as more than just a spectacle.
Instead, after a 6-3 drubbing at the hands of the mighty Bruins on Monday night at the Coliseum, the Isles will now walk into The Bronx reeling, their season quickly pushed back to the brink of premature failure, a recent run of 0-2-1 starting to undermine any good work that preceded it while accentuating all of the bad.
“For us, it’s the biggest game of the year,” Michael Grabner said about the second leg of the Stadium Series, the Rangers having one the first by a healthy 7-3 margin over the Devils on snowy Sunday afternoon. “We need the two points and we have to focus and get ready like we always do.”
By then, the Islanders will have their No. 1 defenseman back in the lineup, as there is very little that can keep Travis Hamonic from playing, the stout blueliner having missed the past eight games after suffering a concussion on Jan. 12.
But if a boost in the lineup is something that can spark energy, well, this game against the Bruins (33-15-3) was no example. The Isles got talented and experienced defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky back following a three-month absence due to a concussion, and even had starting goalie Evgeni Nabokov dressed as a backup after he missed the previous 10 games with a quadriceps injury.
But that backup plan lasted 48:06, just enough time for Kevin Poulin to surrender six goals on 36 shots and force coach Jack Capuano to put Nabokov between the pipes two days early.
“Well at that point, moving forward, I wanted to get him a few shots,” said Capuano, following Nabokov’s one-save performance. “I was hoping he’d get a few more, but it was just to get him in there.”
So Hamonic, Visnovsky and Nabokov will be back and then who’s to blame? The forward group Capuano juggled throughout the second period is one that has struggled to produce consistent offensive behind superstar John Tavares, and also a group that from top to bottom has been liable in its own zone.
The fourth line of Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas and Colin McDonald finished this one a combine minus-10, with all six of the Bruins goals coming at even strength. The defensive tandem of Andrew MacDonald and Brian Strait — supposedly the top shutdown pair — were on the ice for three of the Boston goals.
MacDonald had another dreadful night, letting Brad Marchand get behind him for his second-period goal to make it 2-1, and then getting stripped by Marchand early in the third to set up Patrice Bergeron’s back-breaker making it 5-3, one of three assists for Marchand’s four-point night.
“I’m not going to ever say one guy is fighting it, but there are a few guys obviously trying to play through — it’s a grind,” Capuano said when asked directly about MacDonald, now minus-8 in his past five games. “There are a few guys struggling.”
The Islanders are not a team to quit, as evidenced by goals from Frans Nielsen, Grabner and Kyle Okposo that erased deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 respectively. Yet Carl Soderberg, Bergeron and Zdeno Chara put the finishes touches on for the Bruins. That sent the Islanders out into the wilderness of The Bronx in search of answers needed to save their season.
“We’ve talked about it for a long time,” Tavares said of the outdoor game, “and hopefully it’s a good way to get over this loss and the last couple.”