They got lucky the Jackets lost to Edmonton 4-1 and the Canes lost to TB 6-3. As it is right now the Isles are tied with Pitt for second place in the Metro with 91 points. Carolina has 87, Montreal leapfrogged Columbus 85 and 84 points respectively. They will make the playoff barring a major collapse the rest of the way. Have a 7 point lead over 9th place Columbus with 8 or 9 games to go. I liked how Trotz called them out last night in his post game press conference. He challenged their manhood by calling them soft and that they have to figure things out with this hockey club and fast.
The way I see it their chances are going down real fast. While most teams start playing better and tougher, the Isles are going in the opposite direction. The last time they scored more than 2 goals in a game was 8 games ago. Philly is next and the Isles have already gotten manhandled by them twice this month..
Real hard to win when you don't score any goals ----they can easily miss the playoffs and the way they are crawling to the finish line missing the playoffs might not be a bad thing---Lose for Hughes
For all of the gloom and doom the last 2 games this team is 5-5 in its last 10. That's not great but not a collapse either. For the Isles to miss the playoffs the Canes, Canadiens, and Jackets would all have to pass the Isles and there are 8 games left for each team except the Canes who have 9. Carolina is 4 back, Montreal 6 back, and Columbus 7 back. The Jackets are struggling like the Isles and Montreal isn't that good despite last night. Worse case I would guess is a fall to WC 1 and a 1st round series against the Caps. As for this weekend the Isles play at Philly tomorrow at 1:00. The Flyers have owned the Isles and just recently beat them twice at Nassau. I hope I am wrong but I see another loss tomorrow. They should (HOPEFULLY) bounce back at home against the Coyotes Sunday afternoon 3:00 start. They need a goal early in the 1st P tomorrow and maybe they settle down. More than 6 periods of scoreless hockey so they need to get that monkey off their back. Anyway LGI.
I’m afraid it’s going to be a blood bath, Trotz challenged them, if they don’t come out and make a statement with their fist and on the board, you can bet that this team will be very different next year.
Caps just lost to the Wild 2-1 in regulation so Isles remain 3 back with a game in hand. Hoping they can at least get a point tomorrow but a W would be nice.
It was brutal. Total let down after that thrilling Bolts game Wednesday. Hockey is a crazy sport! Now the Islanders play the Flyers tomorrow and then the Capitals play the Flyers Sunday, while the Islanders host the Coyotes. Should be a fun weekend!
Watching these guys on offense right now is like watching a LB play QB; it’s like they’ve never played offense before.
[QUOTE Isles need to fire Gomez, 5-3 and this is the best he can come up with on a PP? There is the make up call for Philadelphia!!!
Power play is still looking just lovely---you can easily see why they did not need to make any moves at the deadline --> insert sarcasm. Just find a way to win this game !
If you and I can see Isles don’t have good offensive players, I’m sure the rest of the NHL is aware there is no one they want from Isles either.
Exactly - Lamoriello has a decades-long track record of making good deals when they are available. The obvious implication of the lack of any deals at the deadline is that no good deals (in his view) were available, not that Lamoriello was too stupid to recognize that one needed to be made.
