Won't Get Fooled Again

Isles drop sixth straight; fall further out in playoff race

Sign up for the new Hockey Night in New York Patreon at patreon.com/hockeynightny and get 40% off your first month with promo code “ISLESFIX”

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

If you woke up to this newsletter exactly one year ago, you read, “On April Fool’s Day, the joke’s on us fans who have loyally watched this endless bizarre season.”

The Isles had just won an OT game in Philadelphia, and I was lamenting that they were keeping us on a fool’s errand to see if they could make the playoffs.

The only thing was that they then made the playoffs. The team finished the regular season 8-0-1 for an improbable third-place Metro finish. If you thought there was a chance that the Lightning could strike again, those hopes were all but dashed with a 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday. It was their fourth straight loss without a point, and the winless streak grew to six.

Meanwhile, Columbus doubled up Nashville and Montreal, which did what teams with playoff momentum do—tied their game against Florida in the final seconds and won in overtime, bringing the Isles’ playoff deficit to five points with eight games left to play. The Isles willed their way into staying in the playoff mix longer than we thought they could, but too many injuries, too many mistakes, and too little talent have been too much to overcome, no matter how hard (most of them) are playing for their head coach and each other.