MONTREAL — There’s something far more alarming than the Islanders getting shut out for the second time in three nights by way of a 4-0 loss to the Canadiens on Thursday, their first back-to-back blankings since November 2011. Sure, their execution is lacking and they are slipping in the details, but lulls happen.
A more troubling matter, however, was pointed out by coach Barry Trotz, who is a very cool customer but was clearly upset as he brought up the fact his team did nothing to respond to a big hit from Andrew Shaw on Scott Mayfield late in the third period. The Islanders were already down 4-0 when Shaw skated past the puck and put his shoulder right into Mayfield’s chin, sending the hulking defenseman to the locker room for the rest of the game.
“My biggest disappointment is [Mayfield] gets run and all our guys stood around. That’s not good. That will be addressed,” Trotz said. “Shaw ran one of our guys and we were looking for pennies.”
This season for the Islanders (42-25-7) has been predicated on sticking together and playing hard, and that still had them three points behind the idle Capitals for first place in the Metropolitan Division with eight games to play. But as other teams raise their games — exemplified by the Canadiens (39-28-7), who still are fighting for a wild-card spot — the Islanders have been outworked.
They lack a lot of high-end talent, and they can’t score at will. Both of those things are becoming increasingly disconcerting as the weather gets warmer and the space on the ice shrinks.
But if they don’t compete, if they don’t play physical hockey, if they don’t stick up for one another, the next three weeks might feel like a slow march to the slaughter.
“Our intensity was OK at times, but we have some guys that have to raise it,” Trotz said. “That’s all.”
There was one response over those final five minutes, and it came from a rather unexpected source. Diminutive defenseman Thomas Hickey laid an old-school, blue-line, stand-up hit on Brendan Gallagher with 2:29 remaining in regulation, and as the two got up, Hickey didn’t hesitate in dropping the gloves for a quick and spirited bout.
“Sort of get a little sick feeling in your stomach when you see one of our guys get cheap-shotted,” Hickey said. “I think it was just frustration boiling over. We’re going to bind together and get over it. But we were frustrated all game, so probably just some of that.”
The Islanders hardly sustained any pressure on superlative Montreal netminder Carey Price, who needed 28 saves to pick up his fourth shutout of the season. That followed a 5-0 shutout at the Coliseum by the Bruins on Tuesday — which followed a 3-2 overtime win at Minnesota, a game of which Trotz said they allowed more scoring chances in the second period alone then they did against Boston the whole game.
It has been a tough stretch, with the Islanders 7-8-1 over their past 16 games. There are some key injuries, and some players battling through nagging ailments. But that happens to every team at this time of year. Now the Islanders are going to have to figure out a way through it.
“You can’t fall asleep at this time of year,” Casey Cizikas said. “It’s unacceptable.”
If there was a shot that put the Islanders to sleep, it was the power-play goal from Joel Armia with 6.3 seconds left in the first period.
The second period was then all Montreal, with goals from Shea Weber, Jonathan Drouin and Jordan Weal, all in the opening 8:19 of the period. That chased goalie Thomas Greiss, who had allowed four goals on 22 shots, and brought on Robin Lehner in relief.
The indignity came with Shaw’s hit on Mayfield, and the Islanders will be thinking about it all the way to Philadelphia for a very important Saturday matinee against the Flyers.
“The last six periods, we’ve been badly outplayed,” Hickey said. “I think we all have to find a little bit more juice.”