Without Mathew Barzal, The Undermanned New York Islanders Rely On Their Resiliency

The sight of Mathew Barzal exiting last Saturday’s game against the Bruins in the first period wasn’t nearly as foreboding as the brief but unlucky sounding 13-word statement the team issued Monday:

“Islanders Injury Update: Mat Barzal is out indefinitely with a lower body injury.”

With a 10-game stretch against teams either in a playoff spot or in the thick of the race awaiting the Islanders following the 6-2 loss to the Bruins, an extended absence for Barzal seemed to threaten to end the potential last stand of this Islanders era just after it’d begun with the acquisition of Bo Horvat from the Canucks on Jan. 30.

Horvat and Barzal clicked right away on the top line — the pair combined for five goals and seven assists over six full games while while anchoring the power play, which went 6-for-17 after enduring a 3-for-64 in the 24 games prior to Horvat’s arrival — but Barzal’s injury weakened a forward corps already depleted by long-term injuries to Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Oliver Wahlstrom and Cal Clutterbuck.

Yet the Islanders — who were tied with the Penguins for the wild card spots following play on Saturday — take the ice tonight against the Kings with a two-game winning streak thanks to one-goal wins over the Penguins and Jets and in sole possession of the first wild card with 67 points.

“We just need to find ways to win,” said longtime fourth-liner Matt Martin, who has played alongside Horvat in Barzal’s old spot this week. “If we can get back some of our key guys back, we can finish the job.”

It’s not quite firm possession of a wild card spot. Nothing’s safe in the NHL, home of the three-point games, and the Islanders’ lead is particularly tenuous because they’ve played a league-high 61 games — four more than the Red Wings, who are tied with the Panthers for the second wild card spot at 64 points, and Penguins, who are right behind at 63 points. And lurking at 62 points with a whopping five games in hand are the Sabres. (Wondering how the NHL gets to late February with such a wide variance in games played is a topic for another time)

Add it all up and the undermanned Islanders have an almost invisible margin, even if Pageau and Barzal are more week-to-week than month-to-month. The Islanders were outshot 72-54 in the wins over the Penguins and Jets, trailed the Penguins twice by a goal and beat the Jets when Simon Holmstrom — who is getting an audition on the top line with Barzal out but played just 7:18, the second-shortest on-ice stint of his rookie season — scored midway through the third period.

But at the least, the six-week sprint to the playoffs will offer a glimpse at the resiliency the Islanders developed during their back-to-back runs to the NHL semifinals in 2020-21.

The Islanders — who were in ninth place in the Eastern Conference when the pandemic ended the 2019-20 season and were the fourth-place team in the East Division during the 56-game 2021 campaign — are not a classically elite team.

But there’s no denying getting to the edge of the Stanley Cup Finals twice against the eventual back-to-back champion Lightning — and especially falling 1-0 in Game 7 in 2021 — infused the Islanders with a toughness and a hunger that’s impossible to replicate in any other situation.

“It could go a long way,” said left winger Zach Parise, who joined the Islanders prior to the 2021-22 season but has been a part of 13 playoff teams, including the 2011-12 Devils, who made the Stanley Cup Finals. “I think when you have that experience of playing in pressure situations like they did — and let’s face it, that’s what we’re going to be in the rest of the year — you hopefully can use some of that experience to really know what it takes to buckle down and close out games.

“And we’ve been able to do that.”