from Neil Best of Newsday,

Doug Weight was asked if he had any words left to describe what has befallen his team. He came up empty.

“No, I don’t. I don’t,” the Islanders’ coach said Thursday night. “Nothing. I can’t.”

It was difficult to blame him after the latest flop in a cliff dive out of playoff contention. This time it was a 2-1 shootout loss to the Oilers in a game the Islanders were 110 seconds away from winning in regulation time.

So make that eight games in a row without a victory. The fact that four came in overtime or shootouts illustrates the Islanders often have played well enough to win, only to lose anyway.

“It’s extremely hard to believe,” said Thomas Hickey, who scored the Islanders’ only goal 1:54 into the third period.

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