After Thursday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Kings, there might be more reason to worry about the New York Islanders than after their 11-game losing streak.

Despite climbing out of the basement of the Eastern Conference and achieving a 15-15-6 record, the Islanders have only beaten two teams currently in playoff position all season.

The Athletic pointed out that the Islanders had the second-easiest first-half schedule, considering their opponent’s cumulative point percentage. The Islanders’ two wins against playoff teams were against the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 24 and the COVID-19 depleted Boston Bruins on Dec. 16. Overall, they’re 2-13-2 against current playoff teams to this point, and this was apparently the easy part of their schedule.

There are a lot of things wrong. One is playing well for 60 minutes. Of those 15 losses (overtime/shootout included) the Islanders held a lead in six of them. One heartbreaking loss was against the Nashville Predators on Dec. 9 when the Islanders gave up the game-winning goal with 12 seconds left.

Another issue is goal scoring. The Islanders scored only 22 goals in those 15 losses. That’s 25.6% of their entire offensive output this season in 47.6% of their games. It doesn’t help that the Islanders are at the bottom of the league in terms of total goals scored with 86. Say what you want about Semyon Varlamov last night (don’t worry that article’s coming soon), but he had a very respectable .931 save percentage on Thursday. He also stopped over 97% of shots that came his was Jan. 15 against the Washington Capitals. Both goaltenders are consistently giving the Islanders a chance to win, but the offense can’t get it done.

Things are only going to get harder for the Islanders. The team has some road games to make up after only playing four in December and January. The Islanders will play only three home games in February but will draw some favorable opponents on two separate road trips. The tougher games will likely be against Calgary, Boston, Los Angeles and Anaheim.

But March will make or break the season. The Islanders play eight playoff teams, including the league-leading Colorado Avalanche twice, as well as the Rangers, Lightning, Capitals and Bruins. The NHL Trade Deadline is on March 21, so they’ll have to establish whether or not they’re contending for a playoff spot before then.

Thursday night’s performance proved the Islanders have to be a lot better in big games if they want to make the playoffs. Their bouts with COVID-19 are likely in the past and Ryan Pulock looks like he’s about to return, so the Islanders truly control their own destiny. The Islanders’ next chance to beat a playoff team is on Sunday against the Minnesota Wild.

Getting back to the playoffs is unlikely but possible. They have eight games in hand on the Capitals, who are fourth in the Metropolitan Division. If they somehow win all of them, they’ll be three points back of the Capitals with three head-to-head matchups remaining. It’s never time to stop believing, but the team should move its proverbial hand closer to the panic button if it can’t snap this trend.

Ben Baruch

Born and raised on Long Island. Isles fan since 2009. Studying journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.