New York Islanders’ Oliver Wahlstrom (26) battles for control of the puck with Tampa Bay Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli (71) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
The gap between the New York Islanders and the playoffs is growing.
A 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon extended their deficit to seven points behind those very same opponents for the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
For a team that has now lost five of its last six, their play simply hasn’t been consistent enough. They were out-attempted 25-9 in the first period while falling behind 2-0 — yielding those goals in a 1:22 span — and held to just six shots. They had just nine in the second, although they held Tampa to just six.
Things didn’t click until midway through the third period when they were already trailing 3-0; a power play prompted head coach Patrick Roy — who already shuffled his units to bench the fourth line for the majority of 20 minutes between the second and third periods — to pull goalie Ilya Sorokin to create a 6-on-4 advantage.
Anders Lee scored four seconds after the man advantage expired, but it finally lit a fire under New York’s rear end, though the decision required fortitude from the front, at least according to Roy.
“It was an important game. I wanted to win that game so as a coach, sometimes you need to make decisions,” Roy said. “I made that decision. Sometimes you have to — sorry for the expression — put your balls on the table and do it and that’s what we did.”
The spark they continued to show when Brock Nelson made it a one-goal game with 2:35 to go is exactly what the team needs to exhibit over 60 minutes rather than doing so in sporadic spurts.
Some call it urgency, some call it desperation. The Islanders need both of those to make the playoffs, but that’s not what appears to be stymieing their recent results, which…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply