Islanders hope power play can come up clutch with playoff spot at stake vs. Canadiens

Islanders coach Lane Lambert said it’s not often a team’s playoff hopes ride on the final game of the regular season.

But the Islanders' struggling power play had a hand in the team's elimination situation. They’re hoping the special teams unit can make a difference now.

“This time of year the games are so tight, any advantage you can get, obviously the special teams play a key role in the tight games, sometimes they are the difference,” Noah Dobson said. “So you want to try to be the difference in a good way.”

Before Wednesday night, the Islanders' power play converted on 34 of its 219 chances on the season, a 15.5% success rate that ranks 31st out of 32 in the NHL. 

The Isles went 6-for-18 on the man-up in the six games Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal played together, but sputtered to 5-for-52 in the 22 games following Barzal’s injury on Feb. 18.

Brock Nelson scored the Islanders’ last power-play goal against Columbus on March 24, leaving them 0-for-16 in the eight games since.

“I don’t think anybody would sit here and tell you it’s done what we’ve wanted it to do,” Nelson said. “I think we’ve had a couple of looks, but it feels like it’s maybe one and done."

In the past, Lambert cited the Islanders' inability to enter the offensive zone cleanly and a lack of movement inside the zone as hitches in the struggling unit.

The Islanders failed to score in three power-play chances in the loss to Washington on Monday.

Before Wednesday’s game against Montreal, Lambert said he wanted to see the power play move the puck and shoot more. 

“When you’re not getting pucks to the net, it’s tough to score goals, so it kind of starts there, and after that, you need a bounce or a play to be made,” captain Anders Lee said. “We could use a bounce or two."