RALEIGH, N.C. — The Islanders’ belief that they can turn the season around is running into the hard reality of what it looks like when they get out onto the ice.
The latest ignominy, Tuesday’s 4-0 defeat to the Hurricanes at the Lenovo Center, was only the latest in what is now 33 games’ worth of evidence that the Islanders — who were last above NHL .500 on Oct. 25 — are a team that will need everything it has just to reach mediocrity.
Against a team that eliminated them from the playoffs the last time they played in this building in April, this performance from the Islanders brought to mind the 6-3 defeat, which ended their 2023-24 season.
Just like that night, the Islanders fell behind at the start before seeing every chance at generating momentum get crushed before it got off the ground.
Unlike that night, this never even looked like it might become close.
The Hurricanes were faster, stronger on the puck, harder at the front of the net and — to no one’s surprise — light years better on both special teams units than the Islanders.
Mathew Barzal and Adam Pelech returned to the lineup just two days prior, after six weeks of waiting, and already that has been completely overshadowed because the Islanders’ myriad problems look the exact same as they did with them out.
Instead of using the injury returns to build momentum for a run, the Islanders will need wins in both of their remaining games before Christmas just to get back to NHL .500.
Mere days after Patrick Roy publicly admonished the Islanders over their failure to protect Ilya Sorokin’s crease, the Islanders played their softest game of the season at their own net, giving up every rebound, losing every battle and getting boxed out at nearly every available chance.
They also somehow managed to leak odd-man rushes despite rarely cycling the puck or producing pressure of their own, with Sebastian Aho sealing a blowout by making it 4-0 off a two-on-one with Eric Robinson with 15 seconds left in the second period.
The Islanders had been playing better hockey than in a disastrous first, but a breakdown in front allowed Tyson Jost to get onto Shayne Gostisbehere’s rebound at the 11:13 mark for a 3-0 lead.
At 4-0 going into the third, Roy gave Sorokin a mercy pull for the second time in the past seven games, the goalie having stopped 19 of 23 shots before Marcus Hogberg relieved him.
In the other net, Pyotr Kochetkov got his first shutout since March 30, holding the Islanders scoreless for the first time since Oct. 30.
By any measure, this was an embarrassment of a performance from the jump.
Andrei Svechnikov put Carolina on the board just 5:47 into the match, driving to the net on the power play and beating Sorokin through the legs.
Jordan Martinook made it 2-0 mere minutes later, getting to the crease before Noah Dobson to clean up Jordan Staal’s rebound.
Slow starts now look like just as big a worry for the Islanders as third-period collapses.
This was the eighth straight game in which they allowed the opening goal and, more worrying than that, there was no semblance of physicality or defensive zone structure in the opening 20 minutes.
The standings have been incredibly forgiving to the Islanders, who — if you eliminate the overtime point from the equation — have won 12 games and lost 21, an abysmal number that still somehow has them in the playoff hunt.
Even with that caveat, though, it is impossible to look at this team right now and see the playoffs in its future.
For that, something has to change.
