The New York Islanders entered the night just a point out of the last playoff spot, two points would put them right in a spot. Unfortunately, they forgot they had a hockey game tonight.
- New York Islanders 1 (25-20-10)
- Toronto Maple Leafs 7 (26-18-11)
- NHL Final, Box Score
- Air Canada Center, Toronto, ON
Dismal, but not dead
Ah, I hear the cries now. “Season’s over! Send down Berube! Bring back Halak!”
Take a breath, Isles fans. The season is far from gone despite the ugliest loss of the season. Doug Weight knows how bad that was, and you bet he’ll let the Islanders know how bad they stunk up the Air Canada Center.
This is where I’d normally recap the game, but honestly, there’s nothing here.
Sure, the SOG was pretty close for a while with the Islanders pulling ahead for most of the night. But after Auston Matthew’s second goal of the game, and the goal that put the Leafs up 4-1 the Islanders were ready to head home.
The Islanders need to put this one in the rear-view mirror come Thursday, but should definitely spend all of tomorrow sulking over it. It was a blown opportunity to enter a playoff seed over a team that’s directly competing for the same real estate.
Despite putting forth a good effort in the first two periods, Frederik Andersen stonewalled the Islanders and definitely earned first star of the night in what should have arguably been a 3-3 game by the end of the second period.
But there’s no sense in crying about lost points, the Islanders need to learn from it. Build on it. Should JF Berube have started this game? Definitely. With the Rangers looming on Thursday, it may have been a better strategy to have rested Thomas Greiss, but you know he’ll be looking to avenge this atrocious effort.
The Islanders will be back in action Thursday night against the New York Rangers at the Barclays Center.