Islanders hope Kyle Palmieri’s slump-busting game sign of things to come

Kyle Palmieri didn’t have much interest in discussing his two-goal performance from Tuesday night.

Following the Islanders’ crushing 6-3 loss at Buffalo, that was understandable. But if there were any silver lining to take from the struggling performance, it was Palmieri, who returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch and promptly doubled his goal total for the season.

“That’s great and all,” Palmieri said. “But at the end of the day, my job is to help this team win. We didn’t bring our best effort tonight.”

Against Buffalo, however, Palmieri did as much to help the Islanders win as he has all year. He got on the scoresheet for the first time since Nov. 16 — a goalless drought that has dogged him and the team alike — and did so in his first game after his wife had given birth. Had the Islanders managed to win, it might have been a special memory for him. Instead, he was left to lament what had gone wrong.

If that can kick-start Palmieri’s finishing ability, it would be a huge deal for the Islanders. All year, he has been among their best players in statistics that measure chance creation while he has ranked at the bottom in actual scoring.

According to Natural Stat Trick, Palmieri leads Islanders forwards with more than 100 minutes in on-ice Fenwick for per 60 — on-ice shots, on-ice expected goals, on-ice scoring chances and on-ice high danger chances at five-on-five.

It might be too late to help the Islanders back into the playoff race, but Palmieri could at least begin to salvage his season.

“Let’s see if we can get some joy back in his game,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said Tuesday morning. “I know he feels burdened by not having a great year right now.”

Andy Greene was a healthy scratch Tuesday for the first time all year. Trotz has said he and Zdeno Chara could both spend some time sitting out as the second half kicks into gear. Sebastian Aho, playing for the first time since Dec. 19, notched an assist in 16:51 of ice time.

“We’re trying to look at Aho a little bit here,” Trotz said. “We felt that we could generate more maybe from the back end, which I thought we did with him back there.”

The Islanders returned to their pre-All-Star break forward lines against the Sabres after trying to spread size around their lineup for a few games.

Buffalo’s Dylan Cozens was fined $2,235.42, the maximum allowable amount under the collective bargaining agreement, for his cross-check of Brock Nelson on Tuesday.