Everything is under examination for the Islanders at the moment. According to coach Barry Trotz, that includes his own decision-making.
“I think you have to self-reflect,” Trotz said ahead of a four-game road trip that starts in Vancouver on Wednesday night. “I give guys opportunities all the time. Some guys I’ve given an opportunity have let me down. I stuck with them because of what they’ve done in the past or what I think they may do, and sometimes I’ve had a [quick] trigger-finger on certain things.”
Trotz wasn’t specific as to whom he was referencing, but it’s not hard to find underperforming Islanders. Kyle Palmieri — who is on paternity leave and will miss the game against the Canucks — is the most obvious name. He has just one goal in 29 games. Jean-Gabriel Pageau hasn’t scored since Dec. 19. Josh Bailey’s passing has been helpful lately, but he has just three goals this season, not nearly enough.
As for those with whom Trotz has had a quick trigger, Anthony Beauvillier and Oliver Wahlstrom, two young players who have been made healthy scratches due to puck management errors this season, would seem the clearest candidates.
Regardless, the Islanders need to find a lineup that can consistently score if they’re to squeeze any juice out of this season.
They are coming out of the All-Star break with a 16-17-6 record, on the outside looking in at the playoff race. Their most recent loss, 3-0 to the Kraken, after which Trotz blasted the team’s effort, was the worst they’ve looked all year.
“It’s not acceptable to be where we’re at,” Mathew Barzal said Tuesday.
The time to change that situation, though, is running short.
“I don’t know how this season’s gonna end,” Trotz said. “But I do know that we need to just play as good a game on a consistent basis as we can. And that’s on the group, that’s on me, that’s on everybody. We haven’t been as consistent as we need.
“We have some guys that need to demand more of themselves. I need to demand more of them and get our consistency back.”
It’s absolutely critical to the Islanders’ dwindling playoff hopes to have a successful road trip, with matches in Edmonton and Calgary following the game against the Canucks. The trip finishes in Buffalo next Tuesday.
Entering Tuesday, the Islanders were 17 points out of a playoff spot, with four games in hand on the Bruins. Even if they do manage to play better, it might already be too late.
Barzal agreed the loss to the Kraken was a wake-up call, but that came nearly two months after an 11-game losing streak put the Islanders in a hole from which they still aren’t close to climbing out.
“As a team I think we’re embarrassed with just our effort level in that game,” Barzal said. “Myself included. Just wasn’t good enough, especially in a game where those two points were very valuable.”
As a veteran, and the center of the top line that Trotz specifically called out following that loss, Barzal doesn’t need to be told what’s wrong with the team.
“As much as we need to score offensively, we know that,” he said. “Trust me. We feel that. We feel the pressure of games when we lose and we don’t score. That hurts.”
That doesn’t mean he has a solution, though. Whether the Islanders do is a question that can only be answered on the ice.
“This year has not gone the way I want it to go, not gone the way I envisioned,” Trotz said. “But you gotta stay in the moment and just take care of what we’re doing today, get better and just work our way to a position of winning more hockey games on a consistent basis.”