Schwartz: Twelve games in, Islanders aren't about to panic
In most cases, panic might set in for a hockey team after a 4-6-2 start to the season after 12 games.
And what if we threw in long-term injuries to three key players.
You know the fan base is going nuts and the team is probably feeling sorry for themselves.
But not the Islanders.
"I would feel bad coming in here and panicking," said Head Coach Patrick Roy following Monday's practice at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. "I'd rather be relaxed and feeling that we're going to win our games, be positive and thinking that we're going to win those games eventually."
Games like Sunday's 5-2 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
All in all, the Islanders felt good about their game and are confident that things will start to turn around starting with Tuesday night's game against the Penguins at UBS Arena.
"If we play like that and we clean up those little things, we'll start getting results," said Islanders forward Kyle MacLean. "Turnovers are definitely fixable and minimizing those. You need to get results so as good as you play, if you come out on the losing end, it's still not good enough."
The Islanders are trying to get things turned around in the midst of a rash of injuries.
Forward Anthony Duclair (lower body) was placed on LTIR on October 26th and he was joined on LTIR this past Saturday by forward Mat Barzal (upper body) who is expected to be out 4 to 6 weeks. Defenseman Adam Pelech (upper body) is on injured reserve and is expected to be out 4 to 6 weeks. Defensemen Mike Reily (upper body) and Alex Romanov (upper body) are also sidelined and listed as day to day.
The Islanders are trying to find a way to survive.
"At the end of the day, you have to go out there…we obviously have some guys who out with injuries so next man up," said Islanders forward Brock Nelson. "We have to support one another and go out there and compete."
Up next for the Islanders will be Sidney Crosby and the Penguins on Tuesday night. The Isles have certainly been struggling on special teams and that will have to be corrected if they want to have any
chance of coming out of the game with two points.
"First and foremost, we want to take care of special teams," said Nelson. "Five on five, we want to keep doing the things that we've been doing. I think we've been generating quite a few scoring chances and possession five on five."
Crosby is off to a fast start for the Penguins with 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points. Evgeni Malkin also has 14 points (3 goals and 11 points) while defenseman Erik Karlsson has 6 goals and 3 assists for 9 points.
This will not be an easy task.
"(Crosby is) a great player and they're a good team," said MacLean. "It will be another challenge. It will be nice playing in front of our fans again on home ice."
"When you play Crosby, Malkin and Karlsson, you know you're going to have a good team in front of you," said Roy. "You know they're going to play hard and moving the puck very well offensively so we're going to have to be very good defensively."
Sometimes a team can play well but things just don't break the right way. That's how the Islanders feel right now. They know they have some things to clean up but they are confident that they'll soon start to rack up some points and move up the standings.
"We're playing good hockey," said Roy. "The only thing we don't have for us right now is results. I'm a huge believer that eventually the game will be fair."
Life isn't always fair. Islanders Country has been well aware of that and they're getting restless. We'll see if the Islanders can change that feeling on Tuesday night or will the boobirds continue to be heard?
Stay tuned.
