SUNRISE, Fla. \u2014 The Islanders probably could use some of their injured forwards back right about now.<\/p>\n
Sunday was one of those games when you felt the absences of Kyle Palmieri (ACL)<\/a>, Jonathan Drouin (lower back)<\/a> and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (upper body) on nearly every shift. <\/p>\n The Islanders had done a good job of pushing that out of mind and overcoming the holes those absences left in the lineup in the two games since Drouin went down, but with he and Pageau both day-to-day \u2014 Palmieri is out for the season \u2014 the best time for them to come back would be Tuesday at home against Vegas.<\/p>\n As for Sunday on the road against the Panthers, the Islanders couldn\u2019t generate enough offense on the second end of a back-to-back and lost 4-1 at Amerant Bank Arena to snap a three-game winning streak.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re gonna learn a lot from a game like this to see how they played, the way they played,\u201d coach Patrick Roy said, choosing to take the optimistic tact from a split result over the weekend. \u201cWe were right there \u2019til the end. I see a lot of positives from my opinion on this.\u201d<\/p>\n Mathew Barzal fights for possession during the Islanders\u2019 Dec. 7 loss. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n The Panthers celebrate a loss to the Islanders on Dec. 7. Imagn Images<\/p>\n Max Shabanov, who has replaced Palmieri on the second line, had a nightmare shift in the second period, double-clutching a shot that was blocked as a result, turning the puck over on the cycle, then turning it over a second time deep in the defensive zone, leading straight to a Carter Verhaeghe goal.<\/p>\n That made it 2-0 Panthers 7:05 into the second period \u2014 Uvis Balinskis had scored the opener 12:14 into the first on a point shot that David Rittich never saw \u2014 and prompted Roy to move Shabanov to the third line and bring Simon Holmstrom up to the second.<\/p>\n The Islanders did give themselves a chance, with Mat Barzal cutting the Florida lead in half two minutes after Verhaeghe\u2019s goal with a backhand shot that went off Gustav Forsling and in.<\/p>\n Needing a push in the third period, though, their offense looked no different from how it had for the rest of the night \u2014 which is to say, there wasn\u2019t much of it.<\/p>\n The Panthers effectively kept the Islanders contained, making it hard to get through the neutral zone and making it harder to get to the inside whenever the puck did cross the blue line.<\/p>\n \u201cThey did a really good job forechecking,\u201d Adam Pelech said. \u201cThey rimmed a lot of pucks and they came hard. Maybe we didn\u2019t break it out well enough, and when we did get a stop in the D-zone, we didn\u2019t break it out well enough from there either.\u201d<\/p>\n David Rittich reacts during the Islanders\u2019 Dec. 7 loss to the Panthers. Imagn Images<\/p>\n Seth Jones delivered the dagger for Florida at four-on-four, scoring off the rush after Travis Mitchell and A.J. Greer had exchanged roughing minors to make it 3-1 at 13:57 of the third. <\/p>\n Sam Reinhart\u2019s empty-netter put the finishing touch on it.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t help, either, that Bo Horvat\u2019s line was quieted for a second straight game \u2014 Horvat was minus-3 for the first time all season \u2014 or that Matthew Schaefer had a pedestrian weekend, at least by his standards. (Schaefer still assisted Barzal\u2019s goal for his 21st point, the second-most in history by an 18-year-old defenseman through 30 games).<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, Bo is playing a major role, playing against a top line night after night,\u201d Roy said. \u201cI thought they did a good job against the line they were playing.\u201d<\/p>\n The plain fact right now, though, is the Islanders are operating without a third of their top nine, and they look like it.<\/p>\n Though a six-goal outburst against Colorado on Thursday helped buttress their numbers, that was one of just two games in their past nine in which the Islanders have scored more than twice.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve gotten through that stretch with reasonable results, but it\u2019s hard to believe that is sustainable.<\/p>\n If the Islanders can come home to a healthier forward group, they\u2019ll hope they don\u2019t have to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SUNRISE, Fla. \u2014 The Islanders probably could use some of their injured forwards back right about now. 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