ON THIN ICE
Isles yet to clinch playoff berth with two games left
There’s a doomsday scenario brewing, even if the Islanders are not willing to acknowledge it.
And why would they? In the midst of a free fall, after a confluence of events Tuesday that might lead one to believe there is some malicious power at work, the Islanders were not focused on not having a postseason berth locked up with two games to go in the regular season. Instead, the focus was on the opportunity that lies before them this weekend.
“I don’t know about a crack in confidence as far as a team,” coach Jack Capuano said Wednesday, his team having meetings rather than onice practice. “I think if you take some of our young guys ... they might lose a little confidence within themselves. But as far as a team goes, I still think we have a strong group in there and we’re on the right path. We’ve had a hell of a year up to this point, we have six periods of hockey left to get to where we want to get to.”
Capuano had his group far out Division at the beginning of March, yet a 21 loss to the Rangers on March 10 started a run of 372 over the past 12. Still, the Islanders needed one point Tuesday night in Philadelphia to secure playoff entrance, and even after coming back from a 41 deficit to tie it, 44, with 28 seconds left, they lost in regulation when goalie Jaroslav Halak made the gaffe of the season and let a long Brayden Shenn shot get past him with just two seconds remaining.
Then bad fortune intervened. The Senators needed two points against the Penguins to preserve a mathematical shot at the playoffs and keep the Islanders from clinching— so Ottawa came back from a 30 deficit to force overtime and win.
“The emotion you get from the high, and then the low you get with that — those are the emo-fortunately, sometimes,” Travis Hamonic said. “But you learn those things happen. We win and lose as a team. We’re a tightknit group in here. We’re just looking forward now. We can’t keep looking back on things that happened yesterday or a week or two weeks or a month ago. We just have to keep moving forward.”
That entails trying not to squeeze the armrests too tightly while watching Thursday night’s Senators-Rangers game at the Garden. If Ottawa loses, the Islanders will clinch a playoff berth. But with the Rangers already having secured the Presidents’ Trophy, how much intensity can they really have?
If the Senators win, the Isles go into Pittsburgh on Friday night to face the rival Penguins, who also still are battling for a postseason spot. this point in the season,” Harmonic said. “So it’s going to be as much of a playoff game as we’re going to experience so far this year.”
To continue the nightmare scenario, if the Islanders lose to the Penguins, it’s entirely possible they can return on Saturday night for the final regularseason game at the Coliseum against the Blue Jackets needing a point to make the playoffs. And if they lost that game, oh boy, the old barn on Hempstead Turnpike might go out with a riot.
But again, the Islanders control their own destiny. If the fellow playoff hopefuls continue to conspire against them, they can collect just one point in two games and punch their own ticket to the tournament.
“We’ll do whatever we can to get the victory on Friday, and we’ll deal with circumstances afterward,” captain John Tavares said. “You don’t try to think that way.”
Easier said than done.