Islanders News: Goals or saves would help

Say what you will about the penalties and missed call that fed the first two goals, for the second consecutive game the Islanders found themselves down 2-0 early in the second period and mustered zero response as the game melted away.

Their goaltending has struggled more lately, as the offense has dried up even more. (So, get both slumps out of the way at the same time?)

Barry Trotz also was none too happy about the lack of response to Andrew Shaw running Scott Mayfield in a 4-0 loss to the Canadiens in Montreal. That’s 9-0 over the last two games, and Trotz says the “compete level” wasn’t there.

About last night:

• Steve managed to keep it clean (in the headline). [LHH]
• That was pretty bad. [Newsday] And troublesome. [Post]
• Thomas Hickey, who showed life with that clean blueline hit on Gallagher: “It’s a failed opportunity.” [Isles]
• The Skinny: Penguins are now tied (though not on tiebreaker) with the Isles at 91, and the 9-0 slide the last two games has removed the Isles’ goal differential advantage on the Caps. [NYI Skinny]
• Jordan Eberle was in the lineup — and robbed by Carey Price while the game was still close — after being banged up the previous game. [Newsday]

Meanwhile:

• Other teams are winning and making it tight for the Isles, but Barry Trotz and the Isles just need to worry about their own shop. [Newsday]
• Yesterday the Isles announced a NCAA free agent signing for next season, Miami of Ohio captain Grant Hutton. The right-shooting defenseman will report to Bridgeport now on an ATO. [LHH | Isles]
• The Bruins beatdown offered no highlights, so Jon turned his “One Game, One Play” series into a look at Butch Goring making Ray Bourque and Pete Peeters look bad. [LHH]
• In their latest episode, Dan and Mike captured some of the bubbling angst that, well, remains there after last night, too. [Islanders Anxiety]
• If you’ve been a parent or eagerly anticipated any baby, you can definitely dig Shannon Hogan’s reflections on her past nine-ish months. [MSG]
• Speaking of which, former NCAA teammates and international rivals AJ Mleczko and Jennifer Botterill teamed up to do the studio duties last night, now that Shannon is at the point in her pregnancy where she can’t fly. Great job by them on a tough night; they’ll do it again April 4 in Florida.

Elsewhere

Last night’s scores include the Lightning beating the Hurricanes in regulation (yay!) but the Penguins beating the Predators in overtime (boo!). The Blue Jackets lost 4-1 in Edmonton (haha and yikes?), meaning Montreal leaps them for the second wild card slot.

• Seven facts about Elias Pettersson’s excellent season, as he’s broken Pavel Bure’s record for rookie scoring by a Canuck. [Nucks Misconduct]
• The NHL announced the next “Global Series” with games in the Czech Republic (Flyers, Blackhawks) and Sweden (Sabres, Lightning), with season-opener and November dates. [NHL]
• Meanwhile, the Stars and Predators are eager to play outdoors in the Cotton Bowl. [NHL]
• He left them in ruins, but the Boston example shows that in Edmonton there may yet be hope after the cap carnage of Peter Chiarelli, who is summed up thusly: “Possessing a contradiction of both distrusting data’s utility and being willing to have it reaffirm your most dangerous self-sabotaging biases is to sit very far into the most dangerous quadrant of possible dispositions in regards to managing a hockey team.” [Petro Praxis]
• Why are the Oilers so bad? Because Chiarelli left them with a couple of stars and a bunch of fourth liners. [Edmonton Journal]
• Oh, also: Ttheir president had to apologize for trashing one of those fourth liners in a meeting with season ticket holders. (Bonus: The video at the top: “Is Koskinen’s glove hand a concern?”) [Sportsnet] Typical media figures rushed to his defense (Dreger on TSN Insiders, Spector at Sportsnet, complete with a “let me tell you about sports journalism, son” bit)