Islanders miss chance to jump up wild-card standings with loss to Ducks thanks to a familiar woe

ANAHEIM, Calif.— The Islanders had seven defensemen in their lineup Sunday, and at times, not one of them looked willing to lay a hit.It’s been a quiet through line for much of the season, the lack of edge and physicality inherent in their game.

You could see it in the first period Saturday against San Jose, when Ilya Sorokin bailed them out again and again.You could see it all night Sunday against the Ducks, when Anaheim completed a season sweep over the Islanders 4-1 at the Honda Center on a night when a win would have jumped the Isles over three teams in the standings and put them within two points of a playoff spot.Too often, the Islanders are too easy to play against.For a team that built its identity and success over the opposite ethos for much of the era that currently looks to be drawing to a close, this is something that must be addressed in the offseason, when more substantive change is expected to come.For the present, the Islanders have no choice but make do with what they have, which on Sunday meant defenseman Adam Boqvist lining up as the fourth-line center with Kyle MacLean out due to illness.Losing MacLean, a straight-line player who can bring some physical energy when he is on his game, did not help matters against Anaheim.The young, skilled Ducks got up ice early and often against an Islanders team that seemed interested in using only their sticks to defend — no bodies.

Marcus Hogberg, playing his first game since Jan.25 after being activated from injured reserve earlier in the day, stopped 22 shots.

That including a first-period robbery on Isaac Lundeström with his right skate and a penalty shot from Jansen Harkins, but Hogberg could not keep the house from crumbling all by himself.Quietly, the Islanders had won four of their past five going into Sunday, but the passivity on display from the jump was straight out of their blowout defeat last week at Madison Square Garden.Sam Colangelo struck first for Anaheim, beating Hogberg on a free l...