ELMONT, N.Y. — The NHL standings don’t care about the Islanders’ depleted roster.
It’s six losses in a row now for the Islanders, again forced to dress a makeshift lineup because of a COVID-19 outbreak. The $1.1 billion UBS Arena, in just its second game, became a quiet state-of-the-art facility for long stretches of the Maple Leafs’ 3-0 win on Sunday night before a sell-out crowd of 17,255. Or, worse, there were boos.
The last-place Islanders (5-8-2), coming off back-to-back trips to the NHL semifinals, are now 13 points out of a guaranteed playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division and seven points out of the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card spot. Sure, it’s still early in the season. But that also means those gaps can widen.
Joseph Woll, 23, in his second career start, made 20 saves for his first career shutout as the Islanders were blanked for the second time this season. Ilya Sorokin stopped 37 shots.
The Islanders played without second-line center Brock Nelson after the first period. Nelson scored both goals in Saturday night’s 5-2 loss to the Flames in the UBS Arena opener.
And the Islanders again had six players in COVID-19 protocol, with Kieffer Bellows joining captain Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Ross Johnston and defensemen Adam Pelech and Andy Greene. But the Islanders learned about three hours before the game that Anthony Beauvillier would be available after a false positive on Saturday.
He did miss Saturday night’s defeat as a result.
So for the second straight night, rookie defensemen Robin Salo and Grant Hutton and forwards Richard Panik and Andy Andreoff filled out the lineup. All had been called up from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport.
"I was extremely pleased with all of the players who came up and stepped in," Islanders president and general manager Lou Lamoriello said before Sunday night’s game. "I thought they did an excellent job under the circumstances. And we felt very good about it."
Yet here’s a small snippet of how the Islanders’ luck has run lately.
Just over a minute into the third period, Zach Parise sprung Beauvillier toward the Maple Leafs’ net with a chance to tie the game. Yet, the puck rolled off Beauvillier’s stick as he approached the crease.
Then, Nick Ritchie’s forecheck set up David Kampf’s feed to the crease for Ondrej Kase, who made it 2-0 at 2:00 of the third period.
Both coach Barry Trotz and the Islanders players are attempting to balance flexibility and focus as much as they ever have in their careers with the lineup in flux because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Islanders continue their four-game homestand against the Rangers on Wednesday night.
"The mindset is what you’ve got to do to prepare to win a hockey game," said defenseman Scott Mayfield, who played in his 300th NHL game. "We do all the right protocols. We do everything we can to keep ourselves safe, the staff, fans and then our family back at home. At the end of the day, when you get to the rink, it’s to win hockey games. That’s what we’re paid to do and that’s what we’ve got to do."
The Islanders gave their third shorthanded goal in eight games — they have just one power-play goal in that stretch — as the Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead at 3:31 of the first period while the Islanders skated four-on-three. Defenseman Jake Muzzin sprung Mitch Marner for a breakaway backhander.
Marner also redirected Michael Bunting’s shot through Sorokin’s pads to make it 3-0 at 13:29 of the third period.
The Islanders managed just 13 shots through the first two periods.
