The Islanders just can’t make it easy on themselves.
After they played strong hockey for a month to vault themselves above the playoff cutline, and with the math in their favor, the exhaustion of the playoff race might be catching up to the Islanders.
At least that’s one potential explanation for the pair of lackluster performances this weekend, culminating in a 2-0 loss to the Sabres on Saturday at UBS Arena, courtesy of Kyle Okposo’s game-winner.
Just as on Friday against the Blue Jackets, the Islanders didn’t come out of the gates with enough energy.
They were out-skated early and often by another team playing its second game in as many days.
And just as on Friday, the Islanders left the ice without two vital points for playoff positioning.
“I don’t think we had any thoughts that we were just gonna get handed a playoff spot,” Kyle Palmieri said. “We were gonna have to fight for it.”
The Islanders were never going to be perfect amid that fight, but they could not afford these two straight losses.
They got some help from the Rangers, who beat the Panthers on Saturday, but that would feel better if the Islanders had gotten two points of their own.
The late-afternoon contest eventually settled into an airtight match in which neither team could score.
Semyon Varlamov kept the Islanders in it with 33 saves. But the Islanders, for large stretches, failed to put adequate pressure on Buffalo goalie Eric Comrie.
Either Varlamov was going to break or the Islanders were going to find a way to get to Comrie. The former finally happened with 6:29 to go in the game.
That was when Okposo netted the eventual winner, beating Varlamov to the short side on a wrist shot from the lower left circle.
There was enough time left for the Islanders to mount a push, but like their offensive effort for much of the night, that push fell short.
And Jeff Skinner scored into an empty net for the final tally.
“I just thought overall, our execution was poor,” coach Lane Lambert said. “Passing, not shooting when we had opportunities to do so. It wasn’t a great game for us execution-wise.”
After a first period in which the Islanders were thoroughly outplayed, with Buffalo nearly doubling their shot total, a spark came from the third line.
Hudson Fasching, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Zach Parise did what the rest of the Islanders seemingly could not: They moved the puck forward, holding the zone and generating a forecheck.
That is all well and good, but the Islanders could have used a goal.
“I don’t know if there was a whole lot of chances throughout the whole game,” Scott Mayfield said, echoing the overriding message in the dressing room after a match in which the Islanders were outshot 35-26.
Varlamov, in his first start in two weeks, was superb, making a series of tough saves and twice denying Dylan Cozens on grade-A looks.
Matt Martin also came up with a clearance off the line early in the third to keep the game scoreless. But all that meant little without a goal to show for it.
The power play continued to be lacking for the Islanders, who whiffed on two opportunities during the second period as everything from zone entries to passing to timing seemed to be off.
“We had looks in terms of, got into the zone and we just failed to make the next pass,” Lambert said. “The situations were there. We just didn’t execute as a group.”
The Islanders are trying to make the playoffs without a serious scoring threat at five-on-four. They might just pull it off, but it is turning out to be a heavy lift — as it was on Saturday.
Beyond two straight lackluster performances, the immediate problem for the Islanders is that the schedule is about to get tough. After the Devils visit UBS Arena on Monday, the Islanders have their last multi-game road trip of the regular season with games at Washington, Tampa Bay and Carolina.
And by getting just one out of four possible points between Friday and Saturday, the Islanders have just about used up their margin of error.