The good news for the Islanders is at this juncture of the season, the final score of games is one of the least meaningful aspects.
Because if that weren’t the case, then the awful, disheartening and downright hideous 5-3 loss to the Panthers on Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum would have been one that cut deep. The Islanders watched as two separate, two-goal leads were washed away by a four-goal third period from the toothless Panthers.
And yet as the Isles head out for a five-game trip through western Canada starting Tuesday in Winnipeg, the main focus has to be on their two big trade pieces, Thomas Vanek and Andrew MacDonald, both of whom are just waiting for the call before Wednesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline to disclose their next home team.
The immense offensive skill of Vanek was on full display during the first period, when he rifled two pinpoint wrist shots for his first two goals in eight games, giving the team a 2-0 lead. The 30-year-old winger has an unmitigated desire to be a free agent this summer, and his recent refusal of a seven-year, $50 million offer from general manager Garth Snow exemplifies that feeling.
It has forced Snow to try and get as much as he can for the player he obtained in a trade with the Sabres in late October, the asking price settling around a first-round pick in addition to another high-round pick and a prospect. And although Vanek was planning on traveling with the team after Monday’s practice, he understands this was almost assuredly his final game this season at the Coliseum as an Islander.
“You think about things like that,” Vanek said. “It’s tough, but you try to block it out as best as you can. It hasn’t been easy, but right now, this loss just stings.”
If traded to a contender such as the Kings, those losses would be less frequent, and yet the Islanders’ record of 23-32-8, placing them 14 points out of the final playoff spot with six teams to leapfrog and 19 games remaining, has not soured Vanek’s experience with the organization.
“I have enjoyed my time here,” said Vanek, who has not discarded the idea he might sign with the Islanders as a free agent. “It’s never easy. Even though it’s been a short time, I’ve been here for a good chunk of the season. I’ve gotten to know the guys and the coaching staff, and they’ve been nothing but great. And dealing with this, you try to block it out, but it’s hard to.”
Vanek and the Isles went into the third period with a 3-1 lead, and then the Panthers began to charge back in this chippy, rhythm-less affair. By early in the third, Marcel Goc had cut it to 3-2, and then with 10:31 gone by, MacDonald was beaten in front (or hooked) by Shawn Matthias, leading to his second goal of the game, tying it, 3-3. After that, Scottie Upshall fired in two over the final 9:29, taking advantage of overmatched rookie goaltender Anders Nilsson.
MacDonald, 27, has been a career Islander, and walking off the ice was a bitter moment.
“It went through my mind that it’s a possibility of happening,” MacDonald said of an upcoming trade, having recently turned down his own four-year, $16 million deal. “It’s certainly not the way I’d like to go out, but it’s business. It’s just how it is right now.”