Please stop me if any of this sounds somewhat familiar to you.
The New York Islanders are on a bit of a roll when an important piece of its roster goes down with a serious injury. Last year it was Adam Pelech and now the Islanders find themselves in the same spot this year with the loss of Anders Lee for an “indefinite” period of time.
Lee was placed on LTIR on Sunday morning before the Islanders defeated the New Jersey Devils in the shootout and before they lost two more players to COVID-19 protocols. Replacing Lee is no easy task, but having to play Sunday without Noah Dobson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau made it even tougher.
One of hockey’s most well-known, and overused phrases, has been “next man up.” Every player and coach will parrot it whenever they lose someone to injury. “We just have to have that next-man-up mentality and stay with it,” you would often hear a player or coach say to reporters.
And it’s true for the Islanders right now.
On Sunday night they stuck with it and pulled out a gritty win over New Jersey that was as chaotic and bizarre as the events that happened just before the start of it. That’s what good teams do, and right now the New York Islanders are a very good team.
They were a good team last year too when Pelech went down for the rest of the season, which only lasted a few more months after his Jan. 2 injury due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the Islanders lost something after Pelech went down with the injury and the team went 10-13-7 the rest of the way before the pandemic pause.
As their record and stats showed, they felt the impact of Pelech not being in the lineup and saw a dip in their offensive production and a spike in their goals allowed.
Now, with their captain and leading goal scorer out for the foreseeable future, the Islanders need to avoid the similar trappings that cost them significant ground in the standings last year. Right now the Islanders own first in the East Division and in the entire league.
“When we got in trouble back when Adam went out we decided we were going to outscore everybody rather than outplay everybody and that was a mistake that we collectively made as a group,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said on Sunday. “Or our mentality changed. I felt that’s where we misstepped. Our mentality was way different. I think this group understands more of our identity, having the experience through the bubble and now having the experience of these 20-something games. I think this group is more prepared for it.”
On Sunday, at least, the New York Islanders seemed to be up for the task as they battled to keep their nine-game winning streak intact as they turn their focus onto a much tougher portion of their schedule.
The Islanders will face Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Pittsburgh over their next eight games. All four teams are chasing the Islanders and losses in any of those games means significant ground lost and gained in the East Division standings.
Pageau came off the COVID-19 protocol list on Monday, but Noah Dobson still remained. There is a chance Dobson is taken off the list before Tuesday’s game against Washington and that would be one less challenge that the Islanders would have to deal with as they hit a tough stretch of their schedule.
Noah Dobson remains on the COVID protocol list. Jean-Gabriel Pageau has come off of it. #Isles
— Christian Arnold (@C_Arnold01) March 15, 2021
“You’re obviously always concerned about a player,” Nick Leddy said about the COVID situation. “The protocols are in place for a reason. It’s to keep them and everyone else on the team and the staff safe. Take it day by day and we’ll see how it goes.”
What will be the biggest test for the Islanders will be how they handle the long-term absence of Lee. Last season the Islanders bent a bit without one of their best defenders on the ice, now without one of their most important forwards and leaders on the ice where will things go.
And the Islanders don’t have the luxury of letting more than a few games slip away before they could find themselves on the outside looking in.