Good Morning, Islanders Country.
The Islanders are in the undesirable position of playing spoiler the rest of the way. What’s even worse is that it’s not the fun and fulfilling type of spoiler. It’s not the knock you out of playoff position spoiler, it’s the playoff seeding spoiler.
9 of their final 11 games are against teams firmly in playoff position in the Eastern Conference. These games won’t have much impact on who is in the post-season, but they will on those first-round matchups.
For the Islanders, this last stretch presents an opportunity to reinforce the confidence in the current core or put on display just how wide the gap is between them and the top teams in the conference.
Coming up, there might not be playoffs, but there are a lot of playoff teams the rest of the way. Plus, how Zach Parise got his groove back, and his pops the birth of the Islanders dynasty 11 seconds into overtime at MSG.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: There are 11 games left in the season and based on how the rest of the April schedule shakes out, Monday was likely the Islanders’ last full-blown practice of the season. 15 points back of the final wild-card position, the players know these last stretch of games are as much about personal and team pride as they are about the standings.
◾️PLAY OUR BEST: “You always want to be playing well, no matter what the circumstances or the situation,” Josh Bailey said after Monday’s practice. “That’s certainly the case down the stretch. We’re all driven to go out and play our best every night. That’s our job. I think we’re all committed to doing that.”
◾️ Per Kevin Kurz, in The Athletic, since joining JG Pageau, Kyle Palmieri’s 47 individual scoring chances-for, per Natural Stat Trick, leads the team (Nelson and Anders Lee are second with 44).
◾️ Remember that first year under Barry Trotz when the Isles won a remarkable amount of games on the back-end of a back-to-back? Well, this year, they have faired more in line with expectations. They are 9-5-1 in the front end and the reverse, with a record of 5-9-1 on the back end.
◾️ Casey Cizikas, one point shy of 200 for his career, is eligible to be back in the lineup tonight vs Pittsburgh after serving his one-game suspension.
◾️ Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was suspended for four games for Cross-checking Nashville’s Mark Borowieck. He’ll miss tonight’s and Thursday’s game vs. Isles.
As mentioned at the top, the Islanders finish their schedule playing 9 of their final 11 games against playoff teams. In fact, the only team currently in playoff position in the Eastern Conference they won’t face between now and when the season ends on April 28th is the Boston Bruins. Their record against teams holding playoff spots this year you ask? It’s an unforgiving 8-23-2.
The only games not against a playoff opponent are Montreal on April 15th and Buffalo on April 23rd. Here is the remaining schedule:
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders are back home tonight at UBS Arena to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.
📊 STANDINGS:
Over the weekend, Newsday’s Andrew Gross took a closer look at Zach Parise’s season. At 37, Parise is the only Islander to play in all 71 regular-season games. This comes just one year removed from Parise losing consistent playing time with the Minnesota Wild, resulting in a buy-out of the final four years of his 13-year $98M contract during the off-season.
Being a healthy scratch was unfamiliar territory for Parise and it admittedly had an impact on his mental focus as he scored just seven goals and 11 assists in 45 games in 2021. After signing a 1-year $750K deal with the Isles, the work ethic was there, but the results didn’t follow - at first. Parise scored just once in his first 33 games, though his skating, intangibles, and underlying statistics indicated he could still play quality minutes amongst the top nine forwards.
“I think I got too caught up in that at the beginning of the year in trying to prove something,” Parise told Newsday this past week. “I think it took away from just relaxing and playing the game. I think it might have contributed to the slow start a little bit. I was just out to prove, and it didn’t work.”
The consistency of Parise’s game is more impressive by his willingness and ability to play so many roles for Barry Trotz. His role on the penalty-kill and power-play was expected, but Parise has also moved around the lineup, playing with JG Pageau and Kyle Palmieri for the bulk of the season before moving to a line centered by Mathew Barzal with Oliver Wahlstrom.
Parise has also played center when called upon when injuries and COVID protocol depleted the depth at that position. Since the slow start thru 33 games, Parise has 11 goals and 18 assists, leading to the organization viewing him as part of the solution next season and extending his contract for the same 1-year $750K he played for this year.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Zach Parise, the 100th-leading goal scorer in NHL history, has 404 goals, leaving him two behind Rod Gilbert and John LeClair, three behind Marian Gaborik and four behind Patrik Elias and Ray Ferraro. Zach’s father, JP had 238 career goals. Speaking of…
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: It was what many believe was the birth of the Islanders dynasty. On April 11, 1975, playing in their first playoff series, the upstart Islanders shocked the rival New York Rangers when J.P. Parise scored 11 seconds into overtime at Madison Square Garden to give the Isles a 4-3 win.
At the time, it was the fastest goal in NHL Stanley Cup Playoff history. Parise had been acquired on Jan. 5, 1975, from the Minnesota North Stars along with Jude Drouin, who set up Parise's game and series-ending goal.
🎧 Islanders Anxiety - Episode 198 - The Bad Times Are Back with Dan Saraceni and Michael Leboff “Mike and Dan look at one satisfying win and two hugely disappointing losses for the Islanders, who have a zombie three weeks ahead of them for the first time in three seasons.”
🔗 Isles' Zach Parise relaxes and raises his game by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Zach Parise is comfortable in his third-line role with the Islanders, comfortable that he has a deal for next season and comfortable that he’s still a productive NHL player, relied upon on the power play and as a penalty-killer. But it took a while for the former top-six forward to relax after the Wild bought out the final four seasons of his 13-year, $98 million deal last offseason.”
And we leave you with this…Last week, the Islanders held the first annual Kid's Club skate on the ice at UBS Arena, which is a perk of their Slapshot membership.
Learn more about the Islanders Kids Club HERE
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