Islanders Proving the Playoff Race is Not an Easy Road

There are seven games remaining for the New York Islanders. Some of the remaining opponents are the Washington Capitals, Montreal Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, and the Boston Bruins. All of which are teams fighting for important playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. So take my advice once again: Do not take the Islanders lightly.

The Islanders have the majority of their last seven games at home and they have a home record of 16-15-6. That is a record above .500 despite being last in the league. That leaves the Islanders with a record of 9-26-3 on the road. Ouch. So it seems the Capitals, Hurricanes, and Penguins get the lucky end of the deal, or do they. Last night the Islanders marched into Detroit and shut out the defending Stanley Cup Champions in their own building. The Islanders have shown they can be an interesting team when it comes to playing spoiler.

Tonight the Islanders took on the Flyers and jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. They were .1 second away from taking a 3-0 lead, but time ran out. The Flyers battled back, tied the game, and it went into overtime with the Flyers winning in the shootout. It was a very close game in which the Islanders made a few costly mistakes.

Now the time comes where the games start to get more important. The playoff teams are battling for home ice, or in Montreal’s case, fighting for a playoff spot. So here is a word of advice, hockey is a game where a few bounces, the right calls, or an “on” night for a goaltender can all change how the game was supposed to be played out. Do not take any team lightly, give it your all, and battle to the end. This is a playoff race so show that you belong.

Posted by Bryan Larson on Mar 29 2009. Filed under New York Islanders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.