New York Islanders face a major setback after a crushing 7-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth, compounded by Bo Horvat’s alarming lower body injury just hours after his Team Canada Olympic selection. With Horvat potentially sidelined and Ilya Sorokin still unavailable, can the Islanders’ struggling offense find answers in time for a critical stretch of the season?
Gil Martin dissects the Islanders’ recent scoring woes, the ripple effect of Horvat’s absence, and Patrick Roy’s latest lineup adjustments. Key discussions include the team’s lack of scoring depth, the possibility of pursuing Steven Stamkos, and the urgency for players like Maxim Tsyplakov and Anthony Duclair to step up. Analysis extends to the upcoming showdown against John Tavares and the Toronto Maple Leafs, special teams issues, and an in-depth spotlight on Mike York for the Islanders’ birthday of the day. Can the Islanders regroup and reignite their playoff hopes?
All this and more on today’s Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin.
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25 Comments
They were playing poorly before the injury. They have basically been playing bad hockey since the Detroit game. The defense has been horrible with the goalies needing to steal points. The offense has been missing. It’s time. Move out Lee, Pageau, Duclair, ASAP. They are playing flat during the holidays too close to home and family. Need younger guys that don’t have such comfortable family home lives that are hungrier and focused 100% on hockey. There were rumors of a country club atmosphere in the clubhouse under Lambert and a lot of the same veterans are there.
It's a New Year and with it news…. Owe; i just saw the score…🥴 sounds as if it was a seven alerm fire…. Headlines coming!
What happened to him; didn't he came back from injury not too long ago?
too many injuries, this is not good
No Horvat equals season over. Oh well
Gil…you asked what the Islanders need right now? Here are some important items that go to the top of the list:
1. And this one is VERY important. The Islanders really need a fan base that understands that this hockey team is in year one of a rebuild, made more difficult by a previous GM who lived by the motto "tomorrow doesn't matter the only thing that is important is today" and thanks to that philosophy…the cupboards are bare. Successful rebuilds take at least 3-5 years. See Montreal
2. The Islanders need a GM who has an intelligent plan for the rebuild and more importantly…that the GM DOES NOT deviate from that plan for any reason. Is Darche the right person with the right plan? The next few years will tell.
3. The right ownership. If the owners commit to building a long term winning franchise at the cost of a couple of lean seasons at the start then great…but if ownership measures success by a packed house for every home game…failure is guaranteed. The jury is still out on the current group.
ISLES ROUTED. double whammy loss. third period breakdown, solid pk gives up 2 g's. goalies give up 7 g's on 21 shots. at least 49 had 2 a so 49 is adding pts.
isles are crashing back down to earth. 14 wont make it to olympics only to get injured. and what about 30 and team russia? isles just don't have the depth, top end talent to hold up. take 14, 30 away and isles are fkd. isles can only play over their heads for so long and need good health/lots of guys playing over their heads for the long run. hard to sustain that over full season. i'd worry about another 44 injury or 27 going down hurting their tdl value. and both need to be moved. two week trade freeze during olympics so gm's have some time to debate what to do with rosters before tdl. and now sabres are red hot in east
this is why nhl'ers should stay the fk away from the olympics. season is long enough of a grind without adding in those meaningless two weeks worth of b s games to add more injuries. thanks bettman. should have left olympics to college guys who only play on weekends. no grind for them. ncaa'ers are profiting from nil now. no loss for them.
Bo was on a 40 goal pace and Palmieri scored 30 for us last season. Missing those 2 guys, on a team that doesn’t score already is devastating.
The game is not even worth mentioning. The Isles were outclassed from the time Mammoth went on their first power play.. The bigger concern is Horvat who is by far the Isles current best player and most likely will be the best Islander for the foreseeable future. Let's keep our fingers crossed that 14 is able to cheat another long term injury
Yes we must move out pageau, lee,cizikas and pukeckair asap! Scoring!!!by the trade deadline.
Get rid of thaf bum syplikov also
Syplikov sucks da big one! Trade him asap with the rest of the veteran bums for young scorers 2q to 24yrs old
8th game in a row scoring 2 goals or less
islanders have had issues scoring goals for many years they need a big time center..
Man i feel for Bo. What a gut punch! Looks like he will be out long term. I was all in to add to the roster at the deadline
But with Bo out its time to start the full rebuild. Move out vets and expiring contracts for picks and prospects and let the young guys play. Also looks like Sorokin injury is worse than be reported so this team nor any team can overcome these injuries. LGI
Since goal scoring is never addressed by this team and the few guys that do score consistently are injured its time to think about making some moves for next season and beyond. Expecting a serious playoff run from the players remaining on the roster is a fool’s errand
Horrible! Bo is really going to miss time. It looked bad. It was a really awkward hit. It looked like an unintentional backward reverse hit to his knee. I really feel bad 😞 for Bo. I feel he will miss a significant amount of time. Not trading for SS and giving up assets and paying him 8 million per year for the next 2.5 years! Hell No! We never expected to have a good year we have overachieved to this point. I am not adding salary! I am moving Lee and JGP to open up 12 million in cap space. You can deal off Tsyplakov and save another 2.25 million and if Duke waives his NTC another 3.5. Darche has the chance to add picks , prospects, and open up 20 million plus in cap space which absolutely should be done. Do not in any way do a Lou please 🙏! We need to make a better future not a temporary patch to try to possibly get a playoff spot. Fans have to be patient! We must deal off veterans and non core players. However these moves will not happen until the Olympic break or the trade deadline. A lot of concern for SoroKing! Darche needs to draft a premium goaltender prospect and right hand shot D . Stay the Course Darche! I don’t get pulling out Gatcomb and Duke from the 4 th line! We need hits and grits !!!!! We need a big win on Saturday! We need 5 goals plus! It doesn’t get easier in the second half of the season it gets much harder! On a high note 🎵 Schaefer will pass Bobby Orr 13 goals as an 18 year old . Phil Housley actually had 19 goals as a rookie and 79 points.. I don’t think Schaeffer will get the 79 points but is it possible he can tie or pass Phil Housley for goals?
Good morning team! Gil, this news about Horvat is crushing, to say the least. He just gets back, finds out he will play for team Canada, and gets injured again the very next game. I want to try to remain positive about this injury. We really can't afford to be without him for too long. Hopefully the team can find some additional scoring in his absence. I'm not really too concerned about the game last night. It was a disappointment, but those games happen. Give up 7 goals on 21 shots was horrible to watch, including 2 goals on the Utah PP. I want to wash the stink off me from this game and look forward. Everyone, have a great weekend! See you all again Monday. Until then.. Let's Go Islanders!!
Its crazy we got bo 3 games ago and hes already scored 2 goals and won us a SO nail biter lol he is irreplaceable for us. Just a couple weeks ago we were “Playing w House Money” and now everyone is losing their mind. Lol Schaefer asked us to be w them for the ups and downs this year and hed do his best. And the way he was still trying to put pucks in the net last night. This team isn’t done. Rebuilds take typically 3-5 years its been 3 months. Lol
This is terrible news if bo out long term 😣. Do you ever remember a a season where ever team is so close in points and the standings .. I mean 1 bad or good week and you’re up to top of division or bottom.. also heard yesterday game islanders all time playing on New Year’s Day there 1 – 9 so they don’t play good on new year day
We got 3-4 guys with talent on this team.Two of them are hurt. We have an eighteen year old phenom defenseman that we have to protect. We have two russian goalies that are hurt all the time. And people want to go out and get a player? All this playoff, talk, you're not beating anyone. Now if the adults in the room want to concentrate on building this team for the future, then start dealing off these clowns. Enough with the playoff talk, you got four or five kids that you need to bring up in the next two seasons. 5'5" russians, are not going to help this team. We need size speed and scoring the triple S. Enough with all the other bullshit.
Bo is a huge loss for the Islanders, especially when they need every bit of goal scoring they can get. He must be devastated if this affects his chance to play for Team Canada in the Olympics. Wishing him a speedy recovery. Hopefully the team can rebound on Saturday against Toronto. Have a great weekend, Gil. LGI
In order for the islanders to win their highest paid player has to be your best player and that's Barzal. He is on a pace to score 58 points. I am sorry that's simply not good enough if we are going to start pointing fingers about players under performing we need to start with barzal. Too often barzal gives us a 60 point season. Perhaps it's time to evaluate whether we can win with barzal. I really like drouin. However scouts pointed out that at this stage of his career his game is totally dependent on who is on his line. When healthy drouin was essentially 55-60 point player with colorado but scouts questioned whether he could do that with islanders. Duclair…historically players who have their groin muscle torn off their bone do not make a complete recovery. Over the summer scouts said his speed and edge work was missing. I am surprised about holmstrom because I thought he would do 50-55 points this season. I have bee. Surprised about Shabanov I thought he could do 20-25 goals and 45 points. Ritchie I thought he would produce like cutter Gauthier his rookie season 20 goals and 40 points. But will give him a pass because of his age and he is a true nhl talent
Gd morning Gil. I was very glad to meet you yesterday at game with my son. You were so gracious to take a moment out of your free time to speak with us. Tyvm! LGI
Good 🌅, Gil. How are you? Once again, the Islanders DESERVED EVERYTHING THEY GOT, and at home, which was even worse. Bo Horvat just came back from injury, only to have a lower body injury and he was named to Team 🇨🇦. The Islanders haven't scored more than 2 goals in over a month. They lost Horvat,their engine, just like Trots. I feel for Bo Horvat. The Islanders NEED TO STEP UP OFFENSIVELY. I hope he's out for the rest of the season. The Islanders were sluggish I hope they didn't 🥳 too much on New Year's 🥂Eve last night. David Rittich had a bad 🌃 I think he was tired after playing 7 games straight. The sooner they get Ilya Sorokin back, the better. Hero, Shabanov for 2 helpers. 🐐 COMMUNITY EFFORT FOR taking their 🦶 off the gas too soon. The Islanders host the 🍁 tomorrow 🌙. HAPPY 🎂, MIKE YORK. He scored 2 goals and 3 helpers in a win over the 🎶. Hear from you later, Gil, but before I go, I compared that turncoat John Taveras to Carlo Rizzi from The Godfather. Rizzi thought he was IN LIKE FLINT when he married Connie, but the family treated him like dirt, and he took it out on her. He then purposely provoked a fight with Connie to set up Sonny for Barzini. As for Yellowstone, he was Jamie Dutton, because of what he had Beth sterilized on purpose, and that was UNFORGIVABLE. Then, he ran his mouth to a reporter from NY, because he was mad at John. When she
wouldn't print the print
retraction, he killed her. Then, he killed his biological father EXECUTION STYLE, and Beth's got the whole thing LIVING COLOR. Now, LET'S GO ISLANDERS. Also, HAPPY NEW 🥂.