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The New York Islanders picked up a big win last night to hang onto their wildcard spot in the East, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1.

The Islanders came out with a really strong opening frame, taking the play to the Lightning through a lot of the period and outshooting them 13-3. However, it was early in the second period where the floodgates opened, when Adam Pelech got the Islanders on the board with a point shot through traffic. Then midway through the frame, two more goals in less than a minute from Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri extended New York’s lead to 3-0. While Nikita Kucherov did get the Lightning back to within two, a late goal from Ryan Pulock put the Islanders up 4-1 through 40 minutes. New York held on from there, with two more late tallies from Simon Holmstrom and Bo Horvat leading to a huge 6-1 victory.

New York played like a team who really needed a win, and it’s a big bounce-back from their lopsided loss against Tampa Bay last weekend. It’s especially important given that both the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins won their respective games yesterday as well.

It really couldn’t be any closer for the two wildcard spots in the East right now. What’s been a months-long battle for these last couple spots is now going to come down to the final three games of the season for each team.

As of now, both the Islanders and Florida Panthers are at 89 points, with Florida having the edge based on an extra regulation win. The Penguins are just one point back at 88 points, but have four less regulation wins than the Islanders so if they do end up tied in points, the Islanders are guaranteed to have the tiebreaker advantage.

That was New York’s last regular season game against a current playoff team, with their next matchup coming against the Philadelphia Flyers at home tomorrow. They’ll then face the Washington Capitals on the road on Monday, before returning home for their final game of the season against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.



QuizMaker

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Islanders lose both games of weekend back-to-back as playoff race tightens

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