It is time for the New York Islanders to wake up. There are only 13 games left in the season. With 90 points (43-22-4) the Islanders are second in the Metropolitan Division as the Rags overtook them for first place with their lucky win earlier in the week. The race for the President's trophy, which is given to the team with the most points in the league at the end of the season, is as tight as it can be with six teams tied at 91 points.
Even though the Islanders have not played well the past couple of weeks, a win against a tough Ottawa Senators team on Friday night at the Nassau Coliseum would vault them back into first place in their division aw well as first place in the entire league. However, the Rags have the advantage because they have three games in hand.
The Senators came into the Nassau Coliseum having won 9 of their previous 11 games and playing their best hockey of the season. Ottawa's win against Montreal on Thursday night improved their point total to 73 (31-24-11) on the season, however, a tough start in the first couple of months leaves them 7 points behind Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Good news hit the stands on Thursday as Johnny Boychuk inked a 7 year extension worth $42 Million to stay with the blue and orange only weeks after his defense partner did the same. Boychuk announced the signing by joining twitter and proclaiming "Yes! Yes! Yes! For Seven More Years!" He was quoted as saying that after a month with this team he knew he wanted to stay and that this team gives him the best chance to win another Stanley Cup. Those were the sweetest words that any Islander fan could have heard.
The Islanders have not played their best hockey of late, but they had an opportunity to turn it around with back-to-back games at the Nassau Coliseum against Ottawa on Friday and Montreal on Saturday. Michael Grabner and Brian Strait both found their way back in the lineup as Frans Nielsen and Nick Leddy were both scratched with upper body injuries. Jaroslav Halak was in net for the Islanders facing Andrew Hammond (a.k.a. "The Hamburgler"). Hammond has only played 11 games in his NHL career but most of them have been this year (8-0-1).
I woke up later than I wanted to on Saturday morning in Singapore and actually was able to listen to the first period in my hotel room. However, the Senators and Islanders were not in session as evidence by the goose eggs in the first period. There was only one penalty on Ryan Strome for tripping and there were only 15 shots total for the entire period.
Both teams were back at it in the second period, but it was Ottawa that was able to pass a couple of bills past Jarolslav Halak. After Lubomir Visnovsky broke his stick trying to take a slap shot, the Senators broke back the other way and Matt Puempel scored to give Ottawa the lead. Then right before the period ended, Kyle Turris deflected a shot in the net past Halak that he could not veto to give the Senators a 2-0 lead.
It was not like the Islanders did not have their chances. They out shot Ottawa during the period by a whopping 22-9 margin. The difference was that the Islanders had three power plays but could not convert. With Nick Leddy and Frans Nielsen out with injuries, there was no one to break down the Senators and get the puck in their defensive zone. Maybe we should start calling it a powerless play.
New York just could not catch a break against an unknown yet hot goaltender. In the third period the Islanders finally woke up and scored a goal with about nine minutes left. Tyler Kennedy got his 6th goal of the year on a deflection of a Visnovsky shot. However, it was too little too late as the Islanders lost 2-1.
This was not a good one for the home team in front of their 20th sell out in 34 home games. The loss was their third in a row at the Nassau Coliseum and put them in the danger of falling out of the race for the top spot in the Division and the Conference. The good news is that they can get the bad taste out of their mouths by getting back up on their high horse and beating the Montreal Canadiens at home on Saturday night.
There is still plenty of time to get back on track, especially with the fact that the pace of games will be slowing down significantly over the next couple of weeks. But the Islanders will need a little luck and have some teams lose if they want to stay in the hunt.
At this point it does not matter who they play in the playoffs, they need to get back their swagger. They need to want the two points more than their opponents do. They need to start "fearing loss" than worrying about the win. That is what made the dynasty teams successful.
As for this game the Islanders did not have as much influence as their opponents. The Senators tried to pass 28 bills during the game and the Islanders lobbied hard and tried to pass 35 bills of their own. In the end the Senators fired two bills past Halak, while the Islanders could only get one by Hammond. I guess when it comes to big government it always helps to have a hamburgler.
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