Butch Goring: Islanders need to 'pick up their game'

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After a six-game winning streak, the Islanders have reversed course once again and are currently on the outside looking in when it comes to an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

After Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the Isles have now dropped four games in a row, and they’re running out of time to get things back in gear.

With 15 games to go, the Islanders are now tied with the Capitals with 73 points, one point behind the Red Wings for the second Eastern Conference Wild Card spot.

“There’s no question that they have to pick up their game,” said Islanders legend and current MSG television analyst Butch Goring during Sunday’s watch party at The Park at UBS Arena, which drew over 700 fans.

“They can’t afford to wait for other teams to help them out. Teams at this time of the year… you just never know who is going to win and who is going to lose, and you can’t count on the opposition to help you out. You gotta take care of business yourself.”

New head coach Patrick Roy has certainly provided some fire, and it did lead to the Islanders stringing some wins together, but with consecutive losses to the Kings, Sabres, Senators, and Rangers, the Islanders have lost their way again— and this time it’s not about the coaching.

“It’s on the players,” said Goring. “At the end of the day, the coach can give the speeches and ask you to play a certain way, but it’s the players who can execute and get the job done. I like what (Roy has) done. He has a lot of energy and he’s very forthright, and he’s not scared to be honest about what’s going on with this hockey team.”

With Sunday’s game nationally televised on TNT, it was an off day for Goring from his job as Islanders analyst on MSG Plus, so it was a chance for him to do a meet and greet with the fans who gathered at The Park to watch the game on the big screens and take part in other activities on what was a really nice Sunday afternoon — except for the game.

“I think it’s great,” said Goring of The Park, a space that had two pond hockey rinks during the winter and will continue to have the synthetic rink open for business.

“Whoever thought about it is a genius. It gives the fans a little more bang for their buck. During the winter, to be able to come out here and skate, it’s just a stronger way to keep the fans interested and give them a little more.”

In addition to his work on television, Goring has been very active on X (formerly Twitter), especially when it comes to his social media “war” with TNT studio analyst (and Islanders hater) Paul Bissonnette. Goring is having a blast with it and believes it’s all in good fun.

“I look at it as good PR for hockey,” said Goring. “He’s a former player, as I am, and I’m having fun. I don’t know what he’s doing, but I’m having fun, and the fans are having fun with it. That, to me, is more important than anything else because I get more people who come up to me and say keep giving it to him.”

The best way for Goring and the Islanders fans to give it back to Bissonnette is for the Islanders to get on another run and make the playoffs.

Does Butchie think it will happen?

“I said from day one that it was going to be close, and I haven’t changed my predictions,” said Goring.

Goring was the “missing piece” when the Islanders acquired him at the trade deadline in 1980, and the Isles went on to win four straight Stanley Cups. This season, the Islanders did not make a move at the deadline, but they are in desperate need of a spark.

Time is running out.