How many players can the New York Islanders lose and still keep winning? The Islanders hope they didn’t learn the answer Sunday night.
A depleted New York squad will play its final home game before the 4 Nations Face-Off break Tuesday night, when it hosts the Vegas Golden Knights in Elmont, N.Y.
Both teams were off Monday after suffering defeats Sunday. The Islanders’ seven-game winning streak ended when they fell to the host Florida Panthers 6-3, while the Golden Knights continued their skid with a 4-2 loss at the New York Rangers.
The defeat to Florida ended the longest winning streak in almost four years for New York, whose timely surge vaulted the club back into the Eastern Conference wild-card race. The Islanders will enter Tuesday four points behind the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets, who are tied for the two wild-card spots. They were eight points out of a wild-card spot on Jan. 17, the day before the winning streak began.
But New York will have to play its final three games before the midseason break with nothing near its ideal lineup. The Islanders announced Monday that first-line center Mathew Barzal will be out indefinitely with a lower-body injury suffered when he blocked a shot in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Defenseman Scott Mayfield, who also suffered a lower-body injury Saturday, is day-to-day.
Barzal and Mayfield are the fourth and fifth players lost to injury during the winning streak for the Islanders. Defensemen Noah Dobson (lower body) and Ryan Pulock (upper body) as well as backup goalie Marcus Hogberg (upper body) are all expected to be out until after the 4 Nations Face-Off.
New York was already without defenseman Mike Reilly (heart procedure) and backup goalie Semyon Varlamov (lower body). With Varlamov and Hogberg out, Jakub Skarek made his NHL debut Sunday and recorded 27 saves but allowed five goals.
“Injuries are unfortunately part of the game,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said.
Roy went on to reference how the Colorado Avalanche played the final 13 games of their Stanley Cup-winning run in 2001 without Hall of Fame defenseman Peter Forsberg.
“It was a moment for other guys to take the lead and it’s the same right now,” Roy said.
Marc Gatcomb, Kyle MacLean and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each scored for New York on Sunday.
Vegas is in search of someone to step up as it attempts to end a nearly month-long slump that started with a 4-0 home loss to the Islanders on Jan. 9. The Golden Knights suffered their third straight defeat Sunday (0-1-2) and fell to 3-7-3 over their last 13 games.
Vegas will enter Tuesday tied with the Edmonton Oilers atop the Pacific Division with 68 points, though the Oilers have a game in hand. Vegas was six points ahead of Edmonton entering play Jan. 9.
The Golden Knights have scored three goals or fewer in nine of their last 13 games after exceeding three goals 17 times in their first 40 contests.
Jack Eichel scored twice on Sunday to stake the visitors to a pair of one-goal leads before the Rangers scored three times in the third.
“Some guys have been offensively in a slumber for us for a while and they need to get going,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Every night it’s got to be different people. (The Rangers’) top guys were all over the scoresheet in the third period and that’s going to happen – that’s what they are paid to do and our guys will certainly do that.”
