Last night, it seemed like Mike Sillinger and the Islanders fourth line were the only players that showed up to play.

It didn’t help matters either that Tim Thomas was on his game after stinking up the joint the game before against Montreal. Throughout the game, the only line that seemed to have any consistent intensity was the Andy Hilbert, Tim Jackman and Blake Comeau [who was also getting playing time on the third line with Miroslav Satan and Josef Vasicek] line which was cycling the puck and taking the body. Every other line had opportunities, but they couldn’t finish and in the end, that was one of the things that hurt the Isles the most.

The lack of physicality on the Islanders part also didn’t help them get scoring opportunities. After a rough and tumble first, the Isles just stopped taking the body and as a result, there wasn’t nearly enough traffic in front of Thomas and the corners looked like there should have been tumbleweed there. What happened to the physical play?

With the man advantage, the Islanders couldn’t get a cycle going and weren’t nearly as stingy as they should be. This team has had problems scoring all season, they need to start playing with more desperation out there. What happened last night in Boston should be a wakeup call to this team. Start playing more consistent or expect to barely make the playoffs and go home in the first round…again.

However, the thing that hurt the Islanders the most was the haphazard play of the defense. Milan Lucic wound up playing one of the best games of his young NHL career, most likely due to the fact that Freddy Meyer and the rest of the Islanders defense couldn’t clear the wrote of the net and were caught pinching on numerous occasions. Radek Martinek and Brendan Witt also don’t look like themselves out there, as they were chasing the Bruins all game long, rather than either taking the body or taking the puck away like they’ve done so well for most of the season. While the rest of the team will be taking it easy during the break, I really think that Witt and Martinek need to get back in playing shape. The way it looks right now, they’re still a bit rusty.

Speaking of Rusty, congratulations to Ruslan Fedotenko for getting his first shot on goal in three game last night. Am I being sarcastic? You be the judge.

The next few days off should do the Islanders go. They’re still hanging on to a playoff spot, but if this kind of inconsistent play keeps up, don’t expect them to stay there very long.