The 2023-24 season has been a never-ending headache for the New York Islanders. It has been filled with winning and losing streaks, injuries and fired coaches, and seemingly bi-nightly overtime. The core is not that different from the 2020 and 2021 teams that made the conference finals, but their place in the standings is. Today, they are down but not out, and the playoffs are within reach. But, making them will not be easy.
Battling Tough Competition
The Islanders have competed with the best of the best this season, showcasing their ability to beat anyone. This included an impressive Dec. 19 win against the Edmonton Oilers before their 16-game winning streak and a March 2 dismantling of the Boston Bruins thanks to Kyle Palmieri’s hat trick. These games epitomize what a full 60 minutes of Islanders-branded hockey could do to a team. Unfortunately, they rarely put together a full 60 minutes, so a lot of winnable games are lost.
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Heading into this next stretch, the Islanders will face some of the best teams in the league in their next five games, consisting of matchups against the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning. These games will be brutal as they are against other teams fighting for playoff seeding, so the Islanders will need their A-game to get the two points.
While it is meticulous to predict exactly how many points the team needs to make the playoffs, it is the time of year when those calculations will be made. With 14 games to go, the Islanders will need to earn about 18 points if they want to make the playoffs. If they can grab four points in this upcoming stretch, they will be in a good position to do so.
Grabbing the Freebies
There are no free wins in the NHL, but some are easier than others. Following this upcoming stretch, the Islanders will have games against some bottom-dweller and lottery teams in the final stretch of the regular season. None of these games can be penciled in as wins, that is never the case, but they should be looked at as the less challenging points to obtain.
Grabbing points now will pay dividends in the future. Of course, no single game matters more than the other, but this upcoming stretch could provide a massive confidence boost as the regular season nears an end. The team’s recent six-game winning streak consisted of victories over the Bruins, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Red Wings, and Dallas Stars, showcasing an ability to beat teams all across the standings. Breaking down the rest of the season, it will be easiest to put each game into a category.
This Islanders’ five toughest games will be against the Jets, Panthers, Lightning, and the Rangers twice. In these five games, going 3-2 is ideal, but 2-2-1 would be enough to position the team well. Outside of those five, they have some easier matchups against the New Jersey Devils twice, the Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Canadiens, Penguins, and Red Wings. A record of 6-3, paired with the 3-2 record from the five tougher games, would almost guarantee the playoffs with an impressive 18 points in the team’s final 14 games.
All this would take is splitting the two matchups with the Devils, then beating the Blackhawks, Canadiens, Flyers, and one of the Predators, Penguins, or Red Wings. Labeling each game as a win or loss is not what any fanbase wants to be doing at this time of year, but the blueprint is there. If the Islanders can sneak their way into the playoffs, anything can happen, so they need to have the confidence they will win each game they play.
The Islanders found their way into the playoffs last season after losing star Mathew Barzal to injury, but ultimately lost in six games to the Carolina Hurricanes. The team has proven their potential, but they have never found the consistency to stay at the top. The final few weeks of the season will show exactly what this team is made of, and a disappointing few games could lead to the end of some players’ tenures as an Islander. For now, only time will determine if they have what it takes to step up their play when it matters most.
