from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Might we be so bold as to suggest that if Artemi Panarin had chosen to take Scott Malkin’s millions rather than Jim Dolan’s this past summer, the Islanders would be sitting pretty as one of the league’s most legitimate Stanley Cup contenders?

But alas and alack, the winger’s decision to take less to join the Rangers — it’s all comparative, friends, when the smaller number amounts to $81.5 million — has left the Islanders with a lack of elite talent up-front.

Or, as Barry Trotz said following the Islanders’ 2-1 loss to the Devils at the Coliseum on Thursday, which left the team in a 3-4-1 funk since Dec. 17: “We don’t have a lot of natural finishers.”...

A lot of teams get a lot of offense off the rush,” Trotz said. “We don’t get too much off the rush. Every team is built differently.”

But a team built to win — and make no mistake, Lou Lamoriello did not take charge of the Islanders during the summer of 2018 in order to enact a five-year plan — needs to be able to sprinkle in some rush goals here and there. The sport is too hard to grind through every night. And the NHL has evolved into more of an offensive showcase....

The Islanders had two power plays within the game’s first 15:32. They didn’t get another one. This marked the fifth straight game in which they finished with two man-advantages (and the fifth straight going 0-for-2). They have had two power plays or fewer in 23 of their 39 games and are dead last in the league by a substantial margin in advantages.

“I wish I would know why, it might help me figure it out,” Trotz said. “We’re a bigger team, we go to the net. I have no idea. We’ve looked at it up and down and sideways.”

more