Anders Lee wasn’t so upset that his apparent game-tying goal was disallowed at the end of the Islanders’ loss to the Maple Leafs on Thursday.

Public Enemy No. 2 on Thursday night for the Islanders was Max Domi.

This is where the situation in which the Islanders got themselves during Anthony Duclair’s (and Mat Barzal’s) absence gets them into trouble. 

Nearly a year into his tenure as head coach, one thing is certain: this is who Patrick Roy is, for better or worse.

There is plenty of blame to go around for the Islanders' struggles this season, but the star players' struggles is a big reason for their poor play.

At the end of 2024, the Islanders got further away from playing playoff games in 2025.

The Swede has been one of the bright spots in a generally dreary season for the Islanders, already just three points behind the 25 he had last season through half as many games.

If the Islanders were run by a GM without a 40-year history of always staying in the fight, they would be on a trajectory to sell at the deadline.

It had been nearly four years on the calendar since Marcus Hogberg led an NHL team out of the tunnel for warmups.

Certainly it did not cross anybody’s mind that the Islanders would somehow get even worse at four-on-five.

A 14-16-7 record after 37 games is, indeed, hard to take all that seriously as a contender.

After Maxim Tsyplakov took a second penalty in the second period of Saturday’s 6-3 Islanders win over the Penguins, Patrick Roy’s patience ran out.

The Islanders at least ensured that they will keep on hanging around in this race with a 6-3 win over the Penguins in the home leg of the back-to-back.

We are going by the time-honored tradition of school breaks and handing out report cards.

Pairing Bo Horvat with Maxim Tsyplakov has coincided with No. 14’s breakout, with Islanders coach Patrick Roy first trying the combination on Dec. 7.

For all the ceiling the Islanders had shown just two days prior, here came the thud that has acted as a metronome to the season’s first 35 games. 

The exact details of what former Islanders netminder Robin Lehner is going through are not completely clear, but the string of posts 10 days ago made it obvious that it is serious. 

The fourth line, regardless of how Patrick Roy configures it, has been a black hole for the Islanders all season. 

It was a dream come true for the 20-year-old defenseman. 

Eight weeks later, the biggest piece still missing from the Islanders’ puzzle finally clicked back into place.