CHICAGO — The Islanders will not have a more winnable game on the road all year than Friday against the Blackhawks.
It is not just because 13-29-2 Chicago is in the midst of a second straight tank job and in last place in the Central Division, or because the Islanders will have two days of rest following Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss in Winnipeg.
The Blackhawks also have 10 —ten! — different players injured — including rookie sensation Connor Bedard, forwards Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno and Andreas Athanasiou, and defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.
If the Islanders cannot walk into United Center and snap a three-game skid under those circumstances, it is hard to see how they can turn things around at all.
Despite their best attempts at optimism after losing to the Jets, the Islanders know that they can only wait so long to figure things out.
The Islanders avoided slipping into seventh place in the Metropolitan Division after the Devils fell 3-2 to the Canadiens on Wednesday night.
That is not quite as bad as it looks, only because they are tied with the Penguins and Capitals on points with 48, and within shouting distance of the Hurricanes and Flyers.
But that is not much comfort with the Islanders sitting on an abysmal 2-6-1 record since Dec. 31.
“I think we’re in the business of winning hockey games,” coach Lane Lambert said Tuesday night. “As we’ve done and as we did in early November as we were going through a tough time, nobody’s feeling sorry for you. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You gotta go out and find a way.”
The difference between then and now is that when the Islanders went on a seven-game losing streak two months ago, they were regularly playing a strong 40 minutes before running out of gas.
Right now, they are struggling to get to their game at all.
Even as they tried to spin the loss to Winnipeg as a step forward after a 5-0 defeat in Minnesota the night before, the Islanders were trying to put a happy face on a game in which they’d allowed 44 shots and rarely sustained possession.
“I think we’ve all played a good amount of hockey long enough that you can’t let [frustration seep in],” Scott Mayfield said. “We have a good group of guys in here. I don’t see that happening.”
This is the first time the Islanders have lost four straight road games in regulation since Nov. 7-16, 2021.
Casey Cizikas (lower body) was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 9, allowing the Islanders to call up center Kyle MacLean from AHL Bridgeport.
Cizikas is eligible to come off IR at any time since it has been over a week since the injury occurred.
If MacLean plays Friday, it will be his NHL debut.