As every game holds increasing importance for the New York Islanders, their effort tonight was not indicative of how they should be playing.
The Boston Bruins are a formidable opponent with a reputation that precedes them. Knowing how intimidating their attack can be, Barry Trotz’s group needed to amp up their competitiveness.
What followed was as bad as anyone could have predicted.
The Islanders weren’t beat, to have been defeated implies there was an effort put forth. Like Josh Ho-Sang’s 2015 training camp, the Islanders slept through their alarms and didn’t bother putting any effort into this game.