Good Morning, Islanders Country.
I’ve counted them out, you’ve counted them out. The only ones that haven’t counted them out are the most loyal of fans that want to say ‘I told you so’ and maybe, just maybe, the team themselves.
So where do things stand, is there really a chance? Well, at least it’s more likely than Lloyd Christmas ending up with Mary Swanson.
Here’s a breakdown:
◾️ The Islanders were 19 points out of a playoff spot when the trade deadline became contract extension day for Lou Lamoriello on March 21st. As things stand on April 5th, the Isles are 11 points behind the Washington Capitals for the second wild-card. Any combination of 17 points either lost by the Islanders or gained by the Capitals will result in their playoff elimination.
◾️ The Isles have won a season-high four straight and are 11-3-1 since March 10th while the Capitals have lost four of their last six. The Islanders have one game in hand with 14 left to play while Washington has 13.
◾️ The Isles and Caps play a home-and-home series in the final week of the regular season on April 26 and 28. Barry Trotz’s team finishes at home versus Tampa Bay while Washington is at MSG against the Rangers.
◾️The Islanders need to be within six points (and have a chance at winning the tie-breaker) to be alive going into the home and home with Washington. That means they need to close the gap by five points (or more) over their next 11 games.
◾️The problem might be the schedule. The Islanders are 7-21-3 against teams currently in playoff position and have games against Carolina, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh coming up. That is daunting, but hey, there’s a chance.
Coming up, it wasn’t the best day for the hockey media and Varly earns weekly recognition. Plus, Kyle Palmieri has a knack for game-winning goals and recalling when ‘Dubie’ was in net for something that may never happen again.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The thoughts and prayers of Islanders Country have been with Mike Bossy since he announced his lung cancer diagnosis in October.
Given the stature of the man - a hockey legend and childhood hero, the level of interest is understandable. However, what is not acceptable is the way some news outlets and various social media accounts were speculating on Monday on his health status.
There were several posts on the subject on Sunday, both inside Isles Facebook groups and on Twitter. That led to The Hockey News putting out a since-deleted story that other news outlets picked up on and started circulating themselves. The podcast Spittin' Chiclets did worse than speculate and had to issue an apology.
Later in the day, Louis Jean of TVA Sports, the network Bossy worked for as an analyst at the time of his diagnosis provided an update. When the family and team have news to report, they will. Until then, keep doing what you’ve been doing since October and keep supporting No. 22 in this fight.
⭐️ THIRD STAR: Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov has been named the NHL's "Third Star" for the week ending on April 3, 2022.
Varly stopped 99 of 104 shots faced across three games last week, including his fourth consecutive shutout at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers, a win that put the Isles all alone in 5th place in the Metropolitan Division Earlier in the week on Tuesday, Varlamov made 42 saves in a 4-3 Islander win over the Columbus Blue Jackets and then helped the Isles complete a home sweep of the Blue Jackets, making 30 saves in a 5-2 victory at UBS Arena.
⏭ NEXT UP: It’s a battle of ninth-place in the conference teams as the Islanders (32-27-9) visit the Dallas Stars (39-26-3) at American Airlines Center with puck drop set for 8:30 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS:
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Kyle Palmieri recorded his 37th career game-winning goal (and his 198th career goal). No active NHL player with fewer than 200 career goals has as many game-winners as Kyle. Five of his fifteen goals as an Islander have been GWGs.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On April 4th, 2004 the Islanders played the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-3 tie in the regular-season finale. - their last tie in franchise history (unless they bring them back). A relatively unknown goaltender named Wade Dubielewicz was in the net, playing the first full game of his NHL career, and stopped 33 of 36 shots to be named the first star of the game. Roman Hamrlik, Adrian Aucoin, and Alexei Yashin had the Islanders’ goals.
LISTEN: We spoke about this game and the many other Wade Dubielewicz moments with Lighthouse Hockey on Weird Islanders last month.
🎧 Islanders Anxiety - Episode 197 - Close to Being Close with Dan Saraceni and Micahel Leeboff “Mike and Dan recap the Islanders four wins (!) this week and let themselves enjoy a team continuing to make games meaningful into the season’s final month. They look ahead to a tough but short schedule, talk about the attendance and atmosphere at UBS Arena and hope that a new generation of Long Island-native NHLers will finally grow up as Islanders fans.”
🔗 Amazingly, Islanders still have shot at playoffs by Andrew Gross, Newsday “They were 19 points behind when president and general manager Lou Lamoriello stood pat at the trade deadline on March 21 and the deficit was still 19 points as late as March 28. But the Islanders (32-27-9) have won a season-high four straight and are 11-3-1 since March 10 to keep their faint hopes of a fourth straight playoff berth alive.”
And we leave you with this…a very Happy Birthday to Islanders draft pick and future Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo who turned 43 on Monday. The 4th overall pick of the 1997 NHL Draft gave us this family portrait and went on to a 7-14-1 w/ a 3.25 GAA and 1 shutout during 1999-2000. We don’t have to talk about what happened next.
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