DETROIT — The Islanders started Wednesday tenuously hanging onto the last playoff spot in the East.
If they could fly home Thursday night on the right side of the playoff cutline and over NHL-.500 for the first time in nearly a month, that would make for a decent payoff after nearly two straight weeks on the road.
The Red Wings, the last team they will face after four games against the Pacific Division, are currently reeling, with five losses in six games and head coach Derek Lalonde on the hot seat.
The Islanders, who lost to Detroit 1-0 in their lone meeting so far this season, cannot be the Red Wings’ get-right game and suffer a third straight loss to finish out the road trip.
While they took a point in Calgary on Tuesday night, losing 2-1 in a shootout, that represented the second straight game in which the Islanders had a third-period lead and couldn’t finish it off.
They were content with their effort, but that all felt a little moral victory-ish.
“One-goal games could go either way, for us or against us,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Their goalie made some great saves. I’m thinking about that cross-pass on [Kyle] Palmieri [with about five minutes left], that was a really good save he made there. I thought both goalies played well. We had our chance to win this game and didn’t score the goal that would’ve made the difference. That’s all.”
It is a little early to be looking at the standings, but already, a trend is developing in the East that should concern the Islanders.
As of Wednesday morning, the gap between the Islanders and the Rangers, who occupied the first wild-card spot, was six points.
The gap between the Islanders and the Canadiens, who are dead last in the conference, was three points.
Even with the season a little less than 25 percent through, the gap between the best teams in the conference and everybody else is already becoming pronounced — and the Islanders are on the wrong side of the divide.
As much as injuries have hurt the Islanders, they can’t be content to just survive until everyone gets healthy. Not when it’s clear that they’re losing games they should be winning, with the last two both falling into that category.
And not when they could be without four of the five players who started this trip injured for some time.
Alexander Romanov returned from an upper-body injury Tuesday night, but Anthony Duclair (suspected groin), Mathew Barzal (upper body) and Adam Pelech (jaw) have all yet to begin skating. Mike Reilly underwent heart surgery Tuesday and likely won’t be an option for quite a long time.
The Islanders have proven they can survive without them. But they need to do more.
“We gotta do a better job of trying to get a [penalty] kill, but I don’t think the group is worrying about blowing a lead or thinking about that,” Noah Dobson said after the loss to Calgary. “It’s a one-goal game in the third period. They scored on the power play. We had our looks and we didn’t capitalize.”
If the Islanders weren’t 4-2-5 in one-goal games, it would be easier to hand wave Wednesday away.
But the trend of fumbling away leads appears to have carried over from last season. And it is already costing the Islanders valuable points in the standings.
The Islanders can’t undo losses in Seattle and Calgary, but if they beat the Red Wings to go 2-1-2 on this trip, it would give them something to hang their hats on, off what two weeks ago looked like a potentially brutal stretch without five of their lineup regulars.
That would mean points in four of five games on the trip and a win to come home feeling good about.
That would be more than a mere moral victory.