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With a single loss, the New York Islanders’ playoff hopes have gone from very realistic to completely up in the air.
The Islanders fell 5-2 to the Washington Capitals yesterday, set back right away by what can only be considered a disastrous start. New York surrendered two goals in the first 63 seconds of the game and then after actually rebounding to put together a pretty good stretch of play afterwards, a goal from Craig Smith a little later put the Islanders in a 3-0 hole through 20 minutes.
New York couldn’t get a ton going in the second period but did press in the final frame and made the game somewhat interesting late. Hudson Fasching got New York on the board with about five minutes to go and while Tom Wilson did score an empty netter, Casey Cizikas pulled the Islanders back to within two goals once again. However, Dylan Strome buried a second empty netter for the Capitals with a little over a minute remaining, securing a win for Washington.
It’s a frustrating loss for the Islanders, surrendering two goals right off the bat. Of the three goals allowed in the opening frame, the first came off a costly turnover, the second was pretty much just a whiff from Ilya Sorokin on a point shot, and the third was the result of Ryan Pulock dropping his stick and Adam Pelech tripping over it. It was just an opening frame where nothing went right.
The Islanders did have a few stretches throughout the night where they were pressing and I don’t think it was necessarily a bad game, just a devastating start. They outshot Washington 40-25, after all. But when any team allows themselves to get down early like that, it’s going to be tough to recover. Especially with the Islanders, while we’ve seen they can battle back from deficits throughout the season, they don’t have the offense to rely on being able to do that. Plus, going 0-for-3 on the power play didn't help.
It seems like any time the Islanders have built momentum over the last couple months, they’ve ended up just letting their foot off the gas. After a four-game winning streak following the All-Star Break, they followed up with three straight losses against non-playoff teams. Then after a fairly successful California road trip and big win over Toronto Maple Leafs a few weeks ago, the Islanders dropped both games of a weekend back-to-back against non-playoff teams. Also factor in that the Islanders completely shut down the Capitals’ offense on route to a win in Washington less than two weeks ago, and it just seems like yet another missed opportunity.
So what does the loss mean? Well, the Islanders went from just needing three points over their last two games against non-playoff teams to now instead relying on one of the Pittsburgh Penguins or Florida Panthers to slip up. The Buffalo Sabres are also technically still in it but if the Islanders win their last game, the Sabres can't pass them.
The Penguins play their final two games against the two worst teams in the NHL, facing the Chicago Blackhawks tonight, followed by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. They’re a point back of the Islanders (sitting at 90 points, as opposed to New York’s 91 points), but have an extra game remaining. If Pittsburgh wins both games (as they should), there’s nothing the Islanders can do to stop them from pulling ahead.
Meanwhile, the Panthers did only pick up a single point in an overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs yesterday, but are now ahead of the Islanders by a point (sitting at 92 points), also with a single game to go. Florida will play their final game of the season against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, and given Pittsburgh’s quality of competition for their last two games, betting on a Panthers loss may be New York’s best bet.
The good news with this is the Hurricanes’ Metropolitan Division lead has essentially evaporated, so they’re unlikely to sit top players for the game, in order to try to pick up a win and hold off the New Jersey Devils for top spot. Even if the Panthers earned a point in a loss, an Islanders’ win would mean the teams are tied on the first tiebreaker, which is regulation wins, but New York would then have one more regulation/overtime win, giving them the advantage.
The bad news: the reason Carolina's lead has vanished is due to a rough stretch, where the team has won seven of their last 17 games. Contrast that against the Panthers’ strong play as of late and there’s a good chance the Hurricanes won’t pull out a win.
Obviously, the Islanders now also need a win against Montreal as well on Wednesday. If they don’t get that, they’re almost surely destined to miss the postseason. So for now, it’s just a matter of hoping New York can get the job done in their final game and watching some other games very closely.
QuizMaker
OTHER ARTICLES FROM APRIL
Islanders lose both games of weekend back-to-back as playoff race tightens
Islanders keep playoff fate in their own hands with big win over Lightning
Islanders’ playoff fate comes down to final two games after win over Flyers 
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