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The New York Islanders lost 2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings tonight, falling to a 7-12-5 record this season.
A key piece of news before the game was that Mathew Barzal was entering COVID protocol and wouldn’t be in the lineup. Obviously, he's the one the forward you don't want to be without.
It was a relatively even opening frame, despite the Islanders being outshot 14-10. Neither team was able to capitalize though, and it remained scoreless after the first period.
Despite a really good start to the second period for New York, the Red Wings started to take the play to the Islanders midway through the period. Detroit opened the scoring off a shot from Dylan Larkin which was a bit of a fluke, going in off Sorokin’s blocker. The majority of the period was then spent in the Islanders’ end. New York did luck into a 3-on-1 at the end of the period, but couldn’t capitalize and went into the intermission down a goal.
Despite the Islanders putting together a pretty good third period, it was Detroit who struck next, extending their lead as Zdeno Chara got caught up ice and Michael Rasmussen beat Sorokin on a 2-on-1. The Islanders managed to make it interesting, with Anders Lee deflecting in a point shot from Noah Dobson with roughly 2:30 to go to cut the lead to 2-1, but that's as close as they would come.
A moment that summed up how things have been going came in the last 10 seconds of the game. It seemed like the Islanders wouldn’t even get a final opportunity, but Jean-Gabriel Pageau ended up with one last rush with the puck on his stick. Given that he has a good shot off the rush and was in a good position, it wouldn’t be the wildest thing for him to score from there. But then he didn’t even get the puck on net before the buzzer.
The Islanders just haven’t been able to build any momentum from game to game. You’d think some of the forward group may have seen Anthony Beauvillier’s benching against New Jersey as a wake-up call, but apparently not.
As much as I do think a chunk of the team continues to not show up and having Mathew Barzal out doesn’t help, I’d also say that at a certain point you have to look at the team and realize the forward group just is not good enough. While Lou Lamoriello’s tenure has been strong overall, we’ve known for a long time that scoring has been an issue and yet no top forwards have been added, despite the Islanders’ status as a contender. Despite a game here or there that would make you think otherwise, the team can’t score.
Obviously it's not just scoring, as there's a general lack of intensity as well and the team can't allow 39 shots and expect great results. But you're also not going to win many games scoring a single goal.
But hey, at least Ilya Sorokin played well, yet again.
The Islanders’ next game comes against the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
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Supersurvey
OTHER ARTICLES FROM DECEMBER
Islanders’ losing streak reaches 11 games
Islanders finally snap losing streak with win over Senators
Islanders place Anatolii Golyshev on waivers to terminate contract
Islanders allow late goal in loss to Predators, remain winless at UBS Arena
Islanders finally pick up first win at UBS Arena, beat Devils 4-2 
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