CHICAGO — Meet the healthier Islanders, same as the injured Islanders.
It’s never simple, never easy and there’s always disappointment right around the corner.
If anyone thought Sunday was the chance for the Islanders to write the first chapter of the turnaround of their season, with Mat Barzal and Adam Pelech back in the lineup, with the chance to get above NHL .500, with the chance to get into a playoff spot and with an opponent at the bottom of the league, all those aspirations went “splat” into the United Center ice.
The Islanders instead put forth a disjointed and disconnected performance, losing 5-3 to the Blackhawks on Connor Bedard’s late winner as the guys they were still missing — namely Bo Horvat and Anthony Duclair — stuck out more than the guys who returned.
Whatever the health status of the lineup, failing to sweep this home-and-home that looked like such a golden schedule opportunity will haunt the Islanders.
When they lost in this building last year, the head coach got fired the next day.
Patrick Roy is in no such danger, but that his team cannot put forth a consistent or cohesive enough game to stack points even when the schedule is light tells you that the problems when he took over last January extended far beyond the head coach — and a whole lot of them still aren’t fixed.
The overriding theme in this one was the Islanders’ inability to string passes, combined with messy defensive-zone structure.
That was not helped by Barzal, who looked early on like he was still very much working his way into things and mishit passes out of the offensive zone no less than four times in the first 20 minutes.
But he was far from the only culprit — this was a team effort in every sense.
Still, a 3-2 deficit going into the third period following Teuvo Teravainen’s go-ahead, five-on-three goal looked manageable.
Indeed it was, as Noah Dobson cut to the slot and finished through traffic to tie the game just 47 seconds into the third period.
Where the Islanders had struggled to complete passes and be in the right places early on, those problems suddenly melted away in the last 20 minutes.
The forecheck suddenly hummed and the Isles dominated possession as they searched for a game-winner.
What they didn’t do, however, was score.
And when the Blackhawks finally got a grade-A chance, with 54 seconds to go in regulation, they made the Islanders pay.
Connor Bedard finished a loose puck with a shot that went through the legs of Ilya Sorokin and trickled in, with the goalie losing track of the puck as it crossed the line in slow motion.
Even for a team that specializes in brutal losses, this one had some extra kick in it, with Connor Murthy’s empty-netter sealing the deal.
Chicago took advantage of the Islanders’ struggles in the defensive zone when an uncovered Ilya Mikheyev converted Teravainen’s feed to the low slot for a 1-0 lead 9:08 into the match.
The Islanders recovered to tie the game on Ryan Pulock’s point shot through traffic at the 18:43 mark, but less than a minute later squandered the chance to go into the dressing room tied, losing track of Taylor Hall and watching him score with 20 seconds left in the first period.
Simon Holmstrom — whose winning puck battle set up Pulock’s goal — got on the board himself 2:25 into the second, finishing Pierre Engvall’s feed to the crease.
It looked like the Islanders might extend their lead when Hall went off for tripping at the 13:02 mark, but consecutive penalties by the Isles then set up Chicago at five-on-three — which was promptly converted by Teravainen.
Combine the structural issues Sunday with the messy last 10 minutes Thursday night — against the same team — and suddenly it looks like a concern.
Instead of turning over a new leaf on the season, this ended up being the same old inconsistencies.
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