Islanders have to start stacking up wins to make a playoff push
Islanders center Brock Nelson looks on before a face off against the Chicago Blackhawks in the third period of an NHL hockey game at UBS Arena on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Islanders have to hope it’s still now-or-never time for them. The alternative is game over for their playoff hopes.
The Metropolitan Division cellar-dwellers resumed their schedule after the NHL holiday break against the Penguins on Saturday night at UBS Arena, the start of a home-and-home series between the clubs that concludes on Sunday night.
The Islanders went into their extended rest by plummeting into the basement as the result of Monday’s dismal 7-1 loss to the Sabres. It represented the most goals they’ve allowed this season . . . against a team that snapped a 13-game losing streak.
Starting Saturday, the Islanders must prove there’s not a level below rock bottom.
“These are big games for us coming out of the break,” Brock Nelson said. “We’ve talked a little bit about where we are and where we want to go and how we have to do that. These are huge games where you can make up a lot of ground.”
The Islanders come out of the break with three games in four days. They follow this home-and-home series with another one against the Maple Leafs starting Tuesday afternoon in Toronto, and a favorable January schedule of eight of 12 at home. That includes a seven-game homestand, their longest of the year, from Jan. 14-28.
But it’s favorable only if the Islanders can take advantage of it. So far, there’s been no home-ice advantage at UBS Arena, where the Islanders were 6-8-2 entering Saturday’s game.
Seven of their 15 games through Jan. 30 are against Metropolitan Division opponents. Again, it’s only a great opportunity to make up ground in the standings if the Islanders start stringing wins together. They have only a pair of two-game winning streaks this season and have yet to win three straight.
“When teams are ahead of you, you want to be able to catch them,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. “You need to beat them. I know we’re going to be ready to bounce back from our last game.”
“We need to have, from the defense to the forwards to the goalie, everybody playing solid hockey,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Hey, we have a chance to get closer to Pittsburgh. Plus, we’re playing in front of our fans. They deserve a good performance from us. We have to bounce back from our last game and play a strong game.”
The Islanders entered Saturday five points behind the Senators for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot (the Penguins were one point back). But five teams — the Blue Jackets, Flyers, Rangers and Canadiens, in addition to the Penguins — were ahead of them in the conference standings, also trying to make a playoff push.
But the Islanders knew that climb had to start somewhere.
Now or never.
“It’s getting to the point of the year where you’ve got to start stacking some games, but our mindset just needs to be on the first one,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “We’ve got six periods against Pittsburgh. It’s a great opportunity, obviously. Pittsburgh is a team that’s ahead of us in our division and another Eastern Conference team in Toronto.”
The Islanders displayed a blueprint of how they need to play the game before their uber-clunker against the Sabres, winning 6-3 in Toronto with one of their best 60-minute efforts of the season.
“We were really good in Toronto and that’s the way we want to play,” Roy said. “We want to see that consistency and we want to see that at home. We’re .500 on the road. We’re two games below .500 at home. That’s hard to understand.”
Notes & quotes: Ilya Sorokin started his career-high 12th straight game, but Roy said he expects to start backup goalie Marcus Hogberg on Sunday. For Hogberg, who spent the previous three seasons in the Swedish Hockey League, it would be his first NHL start since April 28, 2021, when he earned the win for the Senators against the Canucks. “I feel ready,” said Hogberg, who has stopped all 17 shots he’s faced in two one-period relief appearances since being recalled from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport on Dec. 5. “It’s my job to be ready when they need me.” . . . Roy said goalie Semyon Varlamov (lower body, long-term injured reserve) has not resumed skating. Varlamov last played on Nov. 29.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
