Islanders players back Lane Lambert despite team’s woes

CHICAGO — It is not really up for debate that the Islanders need something to change after Friday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Blackhawks made it four defeats in a row and a 2-6-2 record over their past 10 games.

But the team does not sound ready to throw coach Lane Lambert under the bus for a run that has seen the Islanders slide from second to seventh in the Metropolitan Division.

“I know what you’re probably alluding to, but we don’t want that,” Matt Martin told The Post, when asked if the team needed a jolt. “We want to come out and start playing hockey. At the end of the day, it’s on us. It’s just on us as players.

“Coaches, they can give you all the Xs and Os, the game plan, the systems, all the video. If we don’t come out and execute and play well enough to win, that’s on us.”

If social media is any indication, Islanders fans are very much ready to show Lambert the door after the team’s record fell to 19-15-11.

And just because there is support for him in the room does not mean his job is safe, if general manager Lou Lamoriello believes a change is necessary.

But management and players alike have shown themselves to have a higher opinion of Lambert than the fan base already this season when they supported the coach through chants calling for his head at UBS Arena in early November.

After losing seven in a row then, the Islanders managed to turn things around and put together their best four weeks of the season.

Lamoriello was not on the road this week — assistant GM Chris Lamoriello took his father’s place on the four-city swing — and is not one to make his thinking on such matters public.

Lambert himself, however, agreed with Martin that the onus is on the players to get this fixed.

“There’s leadership in that room. We’ve got guys that need to play better,” he said. “The jolt needs to come from within as well [as the coaching staff].”

Kyle MacLean skated 10:21 in his NHL debut, earning a positive review from the head coach.

“He skates well,” Lambert said. “I can see as we go along here the trust factor and the trust level will be high with him and that’s really encouraging to see. I thought he had a good first game.”

MacLean played on the fourth line between Martin and Cal Clutterbuck and was credited with a blocked shot and a hit.

“I think naturally you’re a little nervous, some jitters,” he said. “I felt better as the game went on. And those guys helped me out a lot.”

Semyon Varlamov is now skating on his own daily as he recovers from a lower-body injury, Lambert said.