Its down to the final five games. It looks like the Rangers have the division all wrapped up. For them to be knocked out of the top spot they would have to lose all of their remaining games and the Islanders would have to win out. That is most likely not going to happen so the race is for the number two spot.
The Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins came into the game at 95 points apiece over 77 games. The Washington Capitals were just one point back. All three teams have 38 Regulation Wins (ROW), which is the first tie-breaker. When it comes to the second tie-breaker, which is head-to-head competition, the Islanders have the edge over the Penguins but not the Capitals. Finally, Washington has the edge in head-to-head over both the Islanders and Penguins. That is as clear as mud. Translation = The Islanders have to win more games and get points.
The first game in the string was against the Blue Jackets of Columbus, who were eliminated from the playoff picture last Tuesday. However, the Bleu Jackets came into the game as one of the hottest teams in the league with seven straight wins to give them 78 points (37-35-4). Many of those wins have come against playoff bound teams. The primary reason for their difficult year has been the fact that the Bloo Jackets have not been able to stay healthy. The number of man games lost this year due to injury is almost double than that of the Islanders.
New York went with primarily the same team that they put on the ice last week. The one change had Tyler Kennedy taking a seat in favor of Eric Boulton. Curious that Head Coach Jack Capuano did not opt for Michael Grabner who supposedly was battling the flu the past week. Cappy told the media that Grabner was healthy so it is troublesome as to why Grabner is not in the lineup. Makes you wonder if there is a backstory that we are not getting. I would expect Grabner to get back in soon. They will need his speed in the playoffs.
Every game there is a different story to tell, so it is very welcomed when stories end up writing themselves. That is exactly what happened in the first few minutes of the game. Eric Boulton, who was inserted into the lineup to provide an emotional boost, knocked in his own rebound past Sergei "Bob" Bobrovsky to make it 1-0.. Boulton was certainly probably the most unlikely goal scorer for either team. Not only was it his first goal of the year in only six appearances, it was his first goal since December 2013. It certainly made Cappy look like a genius...for the moment.
I had to listen to the beginning of the game on radio because it was raining cats and dogs, which delayed my arrival in the man cave. Just as I finally turned on the game, the Blue Jackets tied it up when the puck deflected off of Brandon Dubinsky. Halak really had no chance at all. The first period did not have many more chances for either team and there were only fifteen shots on net combined for both teams with the Blue Jackets having nine of them. By all accounts it was a pretty even period.
The Islanders would get the lead back early in the second period. The team came out with a better effort, Nick Leddy corralled the puck in the Columbus zone and circled behind the led and passed it off of the side boards to a waiting Johnny Boychuck who one timed it towards the net. John Tavares deflected the puck as it was on its way past Bob for a 2-0 lead. It was Tavares' 35th goal of the year.
The rest of the second period was pretty quiet, but the sense was that the Islanders were slowly taking control of the game Columbus really was never in a position to make a threat. Both teams traded power plays and through two periods Columbus had a slight lead in shots 18-16.
For the third time in three periods, the Islanders tallied a goal in the opening minutes. John Tavares sped across the Columbus blue line and stopped short and fed the puck back to Travis Hamonic who fired a wicked slap shot on net. Bob left a rebound to Ryan Strome who buried it for a 3-1 lead. It was Strome's 17th goal of the year and Tavares' second point of the game, which closed him to within a single point of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin for the league lead.
Everything seemed to be stuck comfortably in cruise control until the Islanders failed to clear their zone which led to a Jack Johnson goal to make it 3-2 with about nine minutes left in the game. That goal shifted the momentum back to the Blue Jackets who started to pick up the pace a bit. A couple of minutes later, Columbus dumped it into the New York zone behind Lubomir Visnovsky and Ryan Johansen was able to slide a buckeye past Halak to even the game at three apiece.
The Islanders got a gift with exactly two minutes to go in the game when Columbus was called for a delay of game penalty. Replays clearly showed that the puck hit the glass before exiting the playing surface. However, the powerless play could not find a way to get the puck past a stingy Bob., which sent the game into overtime.
In the extra frame, Columbus got a clear make-up call when Johnny Boychuk was called for a cross-check in front of Halak. The Blue Jackets had seven shots on Halak on the ensuing power play, but Halak came up very big. The Islanders had a couple of chances, but the game ended up with a skills competition. In the shootout, the Islanders looked very tired as Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo did not give their best effort against Bob. Halak gave up two quick goals and just like that the Blue Jackets had their eighth straight win.
Next up is a home game on Saturday at the Nassau Coliseum against a bad Buffalo Sabres team. That should be an easy win, but nowadays I am not sure if easy wins exist. The Islanders need a strong game and convincing win to get their confidence back. They certainly need a shot of adrenalin into their lineup and #40 is waiting in the wings to make that happen. I was looking forward to writing a feel good story about Eric Boulton and his improbable goal in the first period., but it was not meant to be. It is safe to say that the Eric Boulton experiment is over.
The Islanders got a point, but also gave away a point that they had in their back pocket. It had to be very disappointing. The loss left the Islanders one point ahead of the Penguins who were idle, however the Capitals beat the Habs in a shootout which vaulted them over the Penguins to tie the Islanders. To make matters worse, the Capitals have that darn tie-breaker in their own back pocket.
The stretch run to second place in the Metropolitan Division is just getting started and cannot be any tighter than it is. Every game is like a playoff game. If the Islanders want to get home ice advantage in the first round, they will need to turn it around against Buffalo and Columbus (at home) and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (on the road). It is not going to be easy, but then again nothing ever is when you are an Islander.
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