Islanders give alarming worst season effort in worrisome blowout to Kraken

Maybe this will jolt some urgency into the Islanders.

For a club that’s won just three games out of its last 13, there hasn’t been all too much of that lately, and the veneer of close losses finally broke down Thursday night in a listless and shambolic 5-2 defeat against the Kraken at UBS Arena.

The Islanders are 9-11-7 with just 25 points through 27 games, and whatever the excuses — injuries, so many one-goal games going the wrong way yet still within a couple of points of a playoff spot — they are in the Metropolitan Division’s basement.

While their neighbors across the East River have been in “save the season” mode despite a record that has mostly covered up the team’s underlying issues, the Islanders have yet to approach anything even in the ballpark of that rhetoric.

After Thursday, that might have to change.

“I understand our fans were pissed off,” coach Patrick Roy said after his team was booed off the ice following its worst performance of the season. “I’d be pissed off as well. Nobody was very happy and they deserve to not be happy.”

Ilya Sorokin (30) reacts dejectedly after giving up a second period goal to Shane Wright (not pictured) during the Islanders’ 5-2 loss to the Kraken on Dec. 5, 2024. Corey Sipkin for New York Post

The Islanders were outworked and outplayed over all 200 feet. They lacked any detail or emotion to their game, got pushed around and were dominated on special teams, scoring twice late to make the final score look significantly better than the game went. For good measure, Ilya Sorokin struggled in nets, letting in four goals in the first 13 shots he saw before getting pulled in the third for Marcus Hogberg.

“I should watch video, try to find what I did wrong,” Sorokin told The Post. “Try to change.”

The only Islanders performance of recent vintage that compares is the 5-0 loss in Minnesota last season that essentially sealed Lane Lambert’s fate.

There was no third-period lead to blow in this one, and the attempt to jolt Pierre Engvall into shape by putting him onto the second line went nowhere as the Swede failed to establish a physical presence around the net as Roy has been begging him to do for weeks.

Then again, so too did the Islanders, who gave up a pair of tip-in goals in the game’s first 20 minutes to Tye Kartye and Oliver Bjorkstrand.

“I think in the D-Zone, we weren’t able to close quick enough,” said Grant Hutton, who was left to answer for the performance when every other skater cleared the dressing room upon entry by reporters. “They got roaming around. When that happens, you end up getting tired and when they do that shift after shift, it just kills any momentum you have leading up to that point. So for me, that was the biggest issue for us tonight.”

Engvall sealed his demotion back to the fourth line (and quite possibly to being a healthy scratch) with an effortless job at winning the puck from Yanni Gourde early in the second period, leading to Vince Dunn’s skating unimpeded around the zone and scoring to make it 3-0.

Ilya Sorokin blocks a shot in front of defenseman Isaiah George (36) during the second period of the Islanders’ loss. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

That was the first of two bad goals Sorokin allowed, the second coming on a Shane Wright shot from the left circle that beat the goalie clean on the near side, giving the Kraken their second power-play goal of the game at 13:05 of the second.

Given their own trio of power-play chances — one being a four-minute double-minor — the Islanders could not cobble together anything of note and often struggled to hold possession of the puck.

Those special teams trends are nothing new.

It’s a broken record at this point to say the Islanders are hoping their fortunes will improve when they reach full health, but even days with good injury news — Adam Pelech rejoining the team at morning skate — come with caveats.

Semyon Varlamov is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, which is why Hogberg relieved Sorokin on Thursday. Kyle Palmieri and Hutton left the game with injury at different points, though both returned.

Isaiah George (36) defends Oliver Bjorkstrand during the second period of the Islanders’ loss. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

It served as a reminder: Full health, in the NHL, is usually a thing that only exists in the imagination.

Over here in reality, the Islanders are going to need to figure this out with what they’ve got.

Over here in reality, they have won three of their last 13 games and that is not cutting it.

“It wasn’t good enough,” Ryan Pulock said.

It hasn’t been for a while.

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