Islanders’ special teams struggles run deep on both ends

RALEIGH, N.C. — The talk in the visiting dressing room at TD Garden on Tuesday night was centered around the Islanders’ 0-for-5 performance on the power play. Perhaps it should have expanded to include their special teams as a whole.

Not only had the Isles gone scoreless over 10 minutes of power-play time in the 5-2 loss to the Bruins, they’d also coughed up two power-play goals to Boston, making it seven power-play goals allowed in their last seven games.

In total, the Islanders hold a 70.97 percent penalty kill rate, ranking 25th in the league ahead of Wednesday’s game. And while they’ve been quick to point out that a number of those goals have come late in opposing power plays, that doesn’t change the fact that they are still being scored.

Numbers aside, it is obvious to any observer that the Islanders have improved on both special teams units compared to a year ago.

That, however, assumes the soft bigotry of low expectations given that a year ago they could barely enter the zone twice on the same power play and their penalty kill wasn’t much better.

It also overlooks a sort of obvious fact: The goals are what matters and right now the power play (15.63%) is not scoring enough of them, nor is the penalty kill preventing enough of them.

“I thought we had some looks,” Matthew Schaefer said of the power play Tuesday. “I think we have an extra step here. We got a lot more. We got a lot more talent on there. I think we can do a lot of dangerous things.”

Schaefer, who has quarterbacked the top power play, and been heavily involved in the PK, too, was not wrong. The Isles looked dangerous for a good chunk of their power-play time against the Bruins, and they certainly have the talent to do better than they are.

Neither of those things, though, equate to the goals they needed.

After Isles prospect Cole Eiserman suffered an apparent leg injury Saturday in Boston University’s win over UConn, he was absent from the team’s practice Wednesday.

According to the Daily Free Press, BU’s student newspaper, coach Jay Pandolfo said that Eiserman won’t play this weekend at Maine and described his status as week to week, adding that he is no longer on crutches.

“He will be back sooner than later,” Pandolfo said, per the Daily Free Press.