ST. LOUIS – When the Islanders first unveiled the Lighthouse Project to renovate Nassau Coliseum last year, GM Mike Milbury jokingly said the team could play an entire season on the road while the old building was being upgraded.
After the way the Isles have played on the road lately, spending as much time away from home might not be such a bad idea after all.
“It’s so much lighter here, eh?” Brad Lukowich said before dressing for his 400th NHL game. “We’re looking at each other saying, why can’t we win at home? I don’t know what it is. … We come out like gangbusters, we come out and put a team behind us.
“Obviously, if we knew the answer to that question, we’d have a lot better record,” he added. “How do you continue to play at a high tempo for 60 minutes? We’re coming out on fire, we’re hitting, we’re scoring, blocking shots and doing what it takes to win, but for some reason our third period has been lacking.”
The Isles are a pedestrian 5-5-1 on home ice this season, with three straight losses (one in a shootout) and a pair of blown third-period leads.
The Islanders, 8-7 away from home, went into last night’s game here winners of five of their previous six road games, the past two coming against the Flyers and most recently Sunday at Detroit. The 2-1 win against the Red Wings got the current three-game trip started on a high note, which made Steve Stirling that much more apprehensive last night as his team prepared to face the last-place Blues.
The chatter in the Islanders’ dressing room in the two days leading up to last night’s game was, if they did not follow that performance with a win, the Detroit euphoria would be moot. As the Isles continued to look to get on an elusive hot streak, that feeling of keeping a good thing going was their prime motivation against the Blues, who came into the game with five wins.
“The guys are serious,” Lukowich said. “[Monday] night we were talking about it already. Yesterday at practice guys were talking about it. Guys were watching them and asking, ‘How can this team not be good, with all the personnel they have?’
“They have a hard-working team, they’ve got bangers, they’ve got crashers, they have good goaltending. Sometimes it doesn’t jell the way you want it to. They’re playing a little better as of late, and it’s something we have to be aware of.
“This is a team that’s below us in the standings right now and we’ve got to make sure we beat those teams,” Lukowich added. “We’re supposed to beat these guys.”
evan.grossman@nypost.com
