Broken, battered, defeated—all words that aptly describe the New York Islanders at the end of this 13-game gauntlet.
Barry Trotz, in speaking to the media after last night’s massacre at the hands of the Florida Panthers, called his team “fragile.”
The last time he called his team fragile was when he first took over. John Tavares had just left, and the team was fully in flux. This time, though, it’s all in their heads.
The unusual schedule would have been difficult for any team to tackle, but a team that is built around a mindset of The Routine must find it especially challenging.