How to begin to describe this feeling of loss, that in one moment seemed as utterly impossible as it was predictable.
The Islanders, fate’s whipping boy now and for the majority of the past two decades, were just getting toyed with on a snowy Tuesday night out at the Coliseum, a small theatrical tragedy playing out in front of 13,618, many of whom probably turned to the person next to them with three minutes remaining in regulation, their team up by two goals, and told him or her to sit down, this game wasn’t over.
Who else but the Islanders could allow the Lightning’s Valtteri Filppula to score with 2:53 left in regulation, give Filppula another one off a mad scramble with just 3.8 seconds left to tie it, and then sulk off as if they had a chance in the shootout, goalie Evgeni Nabokov unable to stop the two shooters he faced and a 3-2 loss handed to them like a cold and appropriate slap in the face?
“I think it’s pretty simple right now: We don’t know how to win hockey games,” Nabokov said. “What else can you say? All our effort goes to the sh—er. That’s very simple.”
Nabokov started his second straight game after missing 12 with a groin injury, and was just as solid as he was in Saturday’s 1-0 overtime home loss to the Canadiens. But the Islanders (9-19-7) have not be able to stop their free fall, having now gone 1-9-4 in their past 14, beginning to pay rent for the basement of the already putrid Metropolitan Division.
“There are no explanations for it,” said Nabokov, who along with his team hasn’t recorded a shutout since last March 24. “You can’t draw that, it’s pretty simple. You don’t know how to win right now.”
The play that tied the game in the waning seconds was crushing, as the puck was seemingly buried under a slew of people while defenseman Travis Hamonic jumped on the pile, leaving Filppula open as it reemerged and he tossed a backhand past Nabokov.
“For the most part, our systems were pretty good tonight,” said coach Jack Capuano, whose team was staked to the 2-0 lead by goals from Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen. “In the last five seconds, we’re jumping on our goalie. We have a defenseman leaving his feet, jumping on Nabby. You defend with your sticks.”
Capuano always has preached publicly what he called on Tuesday morning “a defense-first mentality,” even if that’s not how his teams have always played. In one of the most damning stats of recent memory, Capuano’s team is now 0-16-5 when it scores two goals or fewer, even with offensive wunderkind Ryan Strome playing in his second NHL game.
“We could have scored [more] in the first 35 minutes of that game, we could have been up by three, but guys can’t find the back of the net,” Capuano said. “So we’re sitting here right now and everything is freaking magnified because we lost in a shootout.”
Up next are the Rangers Friday night in the Garden, followed by the mighty Ducks at home and the Red Wings in Detroit. If the Islanders are thinking about making consecutive playoff appearances, this one against the Lightning (21-11-3) might have been a good place to start.
“It’s unbelievable,” John Tavares said as he slapped his leg in frustration. “We really have to play that perfect game right now.”