Islanders must snap losing streak and get back on a winning roll
The Islanders are on a six-game losing streak and the playoffs are inching farther away. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Islanders will try and try again this weekend to resuscitate their “playoff push,” which must remain in quotes until proved otherwise.
They’ll bring a six-game losing streak — one away from matching their season’s longest — into Saturday’s matinee against the Central Division-leading Jets at UBS Arena. The Devils, who like the Islanders are trying to stay in the race for either third place in the Metropolitan Division or the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, will visit on Sunday.
“We want to win some games and we didn’t get the result we wanted,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said after Thursday night’s 6-3 loss in Detroit. “One thing is there’s no quitters on this team. Everyone embraces the challenge and we’ve got to get ready to start a winning streak.”
Their latest loss dropped the Islanders (29-25-15) five points behind the Red Wings for a wild-card spot and six points behind the third-place Flyers.
They still can get a maximum of 99 points, and the playoff cutoff was 92 last season. But let’s say the Islanders need to get to 94 points to qualify (we’ll explain shortly). Winning 10 of their final 13 (with yet another overtime loss thrown in) would do it.
There’s not much evidence to suggest the Islanders can do that. Plus, their remaining schedule is highly challenging.
After this weekend, the Islanders face a three-game road trip that includes the playoff-bound Panthers and Lightning plus their final game against the Flyers. They also will host the playoff-bound Predators and have two more games with the division-leading Rangers among their unlucky final 13.
The Islanders did win six in a row before their current 0-5-1 skid, but that certainly was the exception in an inconsistent season in which Patrick Roy took over for fired coach Lane Lambert on Jan. 20. Before their last winning streak, the Islanders had won two straight only once between Dec. 15-Feb. 26. Those two victories Feb. 5-8 marked the Islanders’ only two regulation wins in a 19-game span.
Which is why the Islanders likely will need to get to at least 94 points. They simply don’t have enough regulation wins (29), which are the first playoff tiebreaker.
The Flyers have 35 regulation wins. The Red Wings have 36. The Devils have 34. The Capitals went into Friday night’s home game against the Hurricanes with 33. The Islanders can’t match these teams in points; they must finish with more than any of them.
It’s no wonder that MoneyPuck.com on Friday calculated the Islanders’ chances of making the playoffs at a measly 9.9%.
“We got character guys,” Roy said.
That’s great. But what the Islanders really need is points in bunches.
“Playoff push,” indeed.
Notes & quotes: Goalie Sem-yon Varlamov is expected to start against the Jets . . . The Islanders signed undrafted free-agent forward Cam Thiesing of Ohio State to a two-year, two-way, entry-level contract that begins in 2024-25. The 6-foot, 178-pound Tennessean had nine goals and seven assists in 31 games this season as a junior and 32 goals and 29 assists in 108 collegiate games overall.
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.
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