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The playoffs are now almost out of reach for the New York Islanders, who split their two-game back-to-back set this weekend.
With the Islanders basically in a must-win spot, they actually came out with a great effort against Winnipeg on Saturday. Putting together maybe one of their most dominant 30-minute stretches of the season, the Islanders absolutely controlled the first half of the game. They outshot the Jets 25-4 up to about the 10-minute mark of the second period, taking a commanding 5-1 lead and chasing one of the league’s top netminders in Connor Hellebuyck.
While the Jets did find a bit of life after that and were the better team in the second half, it was still a really positive performance for the Islanders, picking up a huge 6-3 win on home ice.
So the hope was this would carry over to Sunday, when the Islanders hosted the New Jersey Devils. With the Devils pretty much out of the playoff race themselves and coming off a disappointing home loss to the Ottawa Senators in the first half of their own back-to-back set, it seemed like a great chance for the Islanders to capitalize.
New York came out with another good first period, outshooting the Devils 13-6 and getting the better of the quality chances. However, New Jersey opened the scoring early in the second period on a 5-on-3, and then minutes later, after a huge offensive zone collision between Noah Dobson, Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri, Jack Hughes went down ice on an odd-man rush to extend the Devils’ lead. Then only shortly after that, Anders Lee lost a puck battle along the wall, and Simon Nemec found Alexander Holtz at the side of the net for a quick shot into the open net, and with three goals in six minutes to start the period, the Islanders were in a huge hole.
While New York did press a little bit from there and had some good chances in the third period in particular, Kaapo Kahkonen held them off the board, and an empty netter secured a tough 4-0 loss for the Islanders.
The loss to New Jersey really wasn’t a poor performance overall, but at this point in the year, results are the only thing that matters for the Islanders and they suffered their third shutout loss in their last eight games.
Again, the Islanders dug themselves into a huge deficit with a really tough second period stretch. Giving up several goals in short period of time has been a theme for the Islanders, and even with a good effort, collapsing for a stretch of six minutes and getting down 3-0 is always going to be tough to overcome.
New York made minor lineup changes between the games, taking out Simon Holmstrom in place of Matt Martin against Winnipeg, before putting Holmstrom back into the lineup against the Devils. Coming off a six-game losing streak, anything was worth a try. It’s also still possible Anders Lee could face discipline, after his knee-on-knee hit with Nico Hischier, for which he received a game misconduct.
As of now, it’s pretty difficult to see the Islanders’ path to the playoffs from here. Here’s where the standings sit right now, for the final two playoff spots in the East (last spot in Metro, plus second wildcard spot):
- 81 points, 10 games remaining: Philadelphia Flyers
- 79 points, 12 games remaining: Washington Capitals
- 78 points, 11 games remaining: Detroit Red Wings
- 75 points, 11 games remaining: New York Islanders
Even just in comparison to the Red Wings, who sit ninth in the East, outside the playoffs as well, the Islanders are three points back with no games in hand and would lose the tiebreaker advantage. The Islanders have now played one more game than the Capitals, who they trail by four points, and they’re also six points back of Philadelphia. Even a great final stretch by the really doesn’t guarantee a postseason spot at this point.
Looking at their remaining schedule through their final 11 games of the season as well, and it’s not getting any easier. Starting Thursday, they’ll have a three-game road trip to face teams who are all above them in the standings, in the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers.
We’ll see if the Islanders can make something happen, but with one win in their last eight games at a crucial part of the season, it may be too little, too late.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM MARCH
- Islanders' four-game win streak breathes life into playoff hopes
- Isles fail to pull ahead in playoff race with mixed results on road trip
- Islanders drop both games of weekend back-to-back, now on four-game skid
- Islanders’ playoff chances take another hit with 4-1 loss to Hurricanes
- Islanders fall to Red Wings for sixth straight loss 
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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