Friedman: Forget The Injuries To The 'D,' The Islanders' Offense Is The Problem

By Daniel Friedman
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Before the start of Game 5, I talked about how the Islanders needed to make a statement -- not by spending the entire night running down opposing skaters, but by shutting them up with a win on the scoreboard.

Well, they sure made a statement. In fact, they made such a big statement, that most of their fourth line spent a good part of the game serving penalty time for all sorts of ill-advised behavior.

Those actions, byproducts of pure frustration, were the final nail in the coffin for the Isles, who got smoked 5-1 and now trail 3-2 in the series.

I think the Islanders spent much of Thursday night's contest looking for physical retaliation instead of the goal(s) they needed to win. Whether it was the relentless Capitals' attack or the mere presence of Tom Wilson and Brooks Laich, something threw the Isles off their game. They just were not focused as the game wore on.

That wasn't the case in the early stages Thursday night's game. Anders Lee dropped the gloves with Wilson early to make a point, and Josh Bailey followed up with the game's first goal. The Caps quickly got it back, and that was pretty much it for the Islanders.

And that's really been the biggest issue for them this entire series -- the Isles just have not been able to get going offensively. And though their defense had kept the last few games at a low-scoring pace, it looked lost in Game 5.

For the second consecutive game, an Isles' rearguard sustained an injury, forcing the rest of the defense corps to double-shift and re-adjust. That will take its toll on a hockey club. It will lead to fatigue, which will lead to mistakes. That's more or less what you saw on Thursday night.

But in those moments of adversity your offense has to step up. The Islanders simply did not generate enough chances and didn't get enough zone time. They were outshot 41-23, and they had 19 shots that were off-target.

They were dominated. That's really the only way to describe it.

We saw the same thing happen in Game 2 at Verizon Center. The only difference was, the Isles were able to keep that a one-goal affair because they scored three times on 21 shots. They at least had some quality looks and made more of an effort when they did have the puck.

In Game 5, there wasn't much of an effort beyond the first 10 minutes or so. When the third period rolled around, with the score still just 2-1 in favor of the Capitals, the Islanders simply rolled over and died as far as their offense was concerned. In a game they needed to win and needed to show an effort, they just didn't. Not enough of one, anyway.

"(Trailing) 2-1 going into the third, you have a great chance to win the hockey game," John Tavares said. "It starts with myself. It wasn't a good period."

Tavares is correct on both accounts. It wasn't a good period, and it does start with him. As he goes, so do the Isles, and though I think he's been pretty good in this series (not to mention the overtime winning goal in Game 3), he needs to be dominant again.

No. 91 needs to be 91, as head coach Jack Capuano has said.

He's not the only one. The entire offense needs to snap out of its funk. I think part of the problem has been constant line-juggling and part of it has been the fantastic job the Caps have done defensively at times, not to mention the strong play of their goaltender, Braden Holtby.

However, at the end of the day, the guys on the ice dressed in blue and orange just have to find a way to break through. I didn't think Washington was that good without the puck Thursday night, yet its defense was met with little resistance from what appeared to be a New York offense lacking urgency.

Let's not even talk about the Islanders' power play, which has been an absolute joke of late.

We need to see the offense that finished the regular season in the top five in goals. We need to see more bodies in front of Holtby, something they'd been doing a better job of for much of this series, but got away from in Game 5.

We need to see a more determined, more aggressive group of forwards, because if we don't, the Islanders will be on the golf course earlier than they'd like to be. They have to find a way to break through.

Forget about Wilson, forget about the non-calls and everything else that's been antagonizing this team. Focus, generate, score, and win.

Win, or go home. That's all there is to it now.

Follow Daniel Friedman on Twitter at @DFriedmanOnNYI