The Islanders’ offseason procuring listing simply bought longer.
This was Marcus Högberg’s internet Thursday, with Ilya Sorokin down with a lower-body damage suffered Tuesday evening in Nashville, and it’s Högberg whose long-term prospects are set again most by the Islanders’ worst efficiency of the season, a 9-2 loss to the Rangers.
There was loads of blame, fault and embarrassment to go round, to be clear.
Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock have been minus-5 and minus-4, respectively, with Pulock at fault for an terrible turnover resulting in the Rangers’ first objective.
Alexander Romanov was benched for 10 minutes of the second interval after turning the puck over and failing to get again on Artemi Panarin’s objective on the finish of the primary, with coach Patrick Roy later saying he “didn’t discover” that Romanov had been benched. Bo Horvat was minus-5, so was Anders Lee.
“Not a lot to say,” Lee mentioned. “We performed a horses–t sport.”
As a workforce and as a company, the Islanders will put on the disgrace of this one, wherein Rangers followers took over the UBS Enviornment stands and the Rangers took over the UBS Enviornment ice.
For all of the unhealthy nights all through this season, all of the accidents and brutal losses, this was the primary time the Islanders didn’t look occupied with competing and their pleasure was in query, with Kyle Palmieri saying as a lot afterward.
They aren’t formally eradicated, not till the Canadiens both achieve another level or the Islanders lose one other sport, however they’re performed they usually know they’re performed.
If permitting seven objectives in Nashville on Tuesday wasn’t sufficient proof, then this was heaps extra.
The Islanders hung Högberg out to dry.
And nonetheless, the Swede’s efficiency Thursday — his .720 save proportion throughout six video games since coming back from a damaged hand a month in the past — means the Islanders want to have a look at bringing in a backup goalie this summer season.
“Simply so dissatisfied,” a shocked and subdued Högberg mentioned after permitting eight objectives on 30 photographs on an evening when he was bizarrely pulled then put again in 4:43 later after Tristan Lennox allowed a objective on the second shot he noticed.
Semyon Varlamov, who went down with a lower-body damage in late November, suffered a setback in rehab after the preliminary plan was for him to rejoin the workforce for apply when it bought again from Utah in January and has not been heard from since, isn’t any certain factor to be prepared for coaching camp.
Even when he’s, the 37-year-old now has missed time with damage in 4 straight seasons, together with with what’s self-evidently a critical challenge this yr.
Högberg did a tremendous job in what basically was an emergency backup position in December and January, however in six video games since getting back from a damaged hand, he’s struggled badly.
With Sorokin’s standing unclear between now and the tip of the season, this regarded like an opportunity for Högberg to get a de facto tryout to be the No. 2 within the fall.
Effectively, you’ll be able to scratch that now.
As poorly because the Islanders performed in entrance of him, Högberg leaked unhealthy rebounds and unhealthy objectives. He regarded with out confidence within the crease and understandably so.
“We gave these odd-man rushes and it’s a workforce that strikes the puck very nicely,” Roy mentioned. “Most of them, they have been side-to-side passes, they usually scored on these ones. So I can’t say greater than that.”
True, this wasn’t all in regards to the goalie. But it surely was greater than sufficient in regards to the goalie.
The Islanders, who’ve ridden Sorokin exhausting for 3 straight years, can’t afford to take possibilities together with his backup.
They want somebody they’ll belief, they want somebody who will keep wholesome, and they should reduce the workload of their No. 1 as a result of he is only one yr into an eight-year deal and there’s a future to consider.
There isn’t any alternative however to make {that a} precedence this offseason.
