Zeitgeist: Islanders fans hold closed door meeting after loss to Hurricanes

New York Islanders fans held a closed door meeting after Saturday night's home loss to Carolina, hoping to get back on track during a season on the brink of insignificance.

The meeting lasted only a few minutes in basements, living rooms, garages, offices, cars and bathrooms across Long Island and in a few other locations mainly in North America. Neither the coaching staff nor general manager Garth Snow were in attendance.

"We just had to talk about some things, get a lot of issues off our chests," said Declan O'Malley of Wantagh. "We weren't on the same page in that game and it showed."

None of the fans would specify what was said in the meeting, but the frustration was evident and the words harsh.

"What was said was said and that's it," said Bea Fleishmann of Syosset. "There isn't much left to say really. It's the same things every game. They're unacceptable and need to stop before it's too late."

"It's like Groundhog Day out there," said Michael Collaccio of Farmingdale. "We go over the same issues every day. We know what needs to be done, so it's just a matter of doing it."

This Islanders season has been defined mainly by missed opportunities, heart-breaking losses and closed-door meetings. Lost third period leads, winnable games that become demoralizing defeats and curious no-shows have been followed immediately by players-only sessions in locker rooms closed to the media.

Four times this season, the Islanders convened in a private meeting after a loss.

The fans wouldn't say if the Islanders closed-door meetings were discussed in their closed-door meeting.

"We'll keep that between us," said Collaccio.

The Islanders are currently in last place in the Metropolitan Division and 12 points out of the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with 39 games remaining.

"We can seal ourselves in a bank vault or shoot everyone into space to have meetings after every game if we wanted to. The point is to get better. Period." said Fleishmann. "But if it helped the Islanders play a full sixty minutes and get scoring from more than one line, I'll be the first person in the vault."

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Thanks to reader McNutty (@TheBigLeebowski on Twitter) for the idea for this.