PITTSBURGH — So here is the state of play in the Eastern Conference after a weekend in which everyone except the Sabres tripped in the race for two wild-card spots:
The Islanders and Penguins, even with 63 points apiece, occupy the two playoff positions. But it is the Sabres with 60 points in 54 games played, and the Red Wings, with 60 points in 55, who everyone now needs to worry about. In particular, the Islanders, who have played 59 times ahead of a must-win game on Monday against the Penguins, are navigating a games-in-hand disadvantage that serves to effectively negate a slim lead in the standings, where six teams are within three points of each other.
Saturday’s disaster of a 6-2 loss to the Bruins was in some ways a reminder of what might be waiting on the other side of this playoff race — whoever gets the second wild-card spot will likely meet Boston in the first round. Whoever gets the first wild-card spot will likely go to Carolina, which has handily dispatched of the Islanders in their last two meetings.
Still, the only goal for the Islanders is to make it, which means eliminating Saturday from their minds as fast as possible and beating the Penguins for the second time in three games.
“Game’s over. Nothing we can do to change the past now,” Matt Martin said after Saturday’s loss. “Obviously review it and I’m sure there’ll be clips that we watch to clean things up. … Once again, it’s the biggest game of the year on Monday just like it was today and the day before. Obviously, Pittsburgh and Washington are the teams that we have our eyes on the most. That’s a big swing.”
Though the Islanders have lost four of their last five games, the poor play of everyone else in the race has kept them in it, along with the fact that their one win during that stretch has been over the Penguins.
After Monday, the Isles have one game left this season against Pittsburgh, when they visit PPG Paints Arena on March 9. They’ve won the first two, and Friday’s win was perhaps the biggest of the season, an emotional comeback that finished 5-4. But those two home wins can be wiped out with two road losses.
The Islanders also have three games left against the Caps, two against Buffalo and one against the Red Wings.
Those will be the four-point games their playoff chances hinge upon.
“We gotta turn the page, we don’t have an option,” Kyle Palmieri said Saturday. “We’re in a chase for a playoff spot. We got an opportunity to play a team that’s above us on Monday. We got an opportunity to turn out a pretty good weekend with a win on Monday.
“Leave this one in the past, whatever it is. Whether it was 2-1, 5-1, 10-1, it’s a loss. We made some mistakes tonight, take a look at them tomorrow.”
That was in essence the tone in the room after an embarrassing defeat Saturday. Don’t dwell on it, get on the plane and focus on Pittsburgh. In truth, the Islanders would have happily taken two wins over the Penguins with a bad loss in between if you’d given them that deal before any of the games were played.
If they win Monday, the Islanders will hold the first wild-card spot and gain two points on a team they are directly competing against. That is what matters.
“Get a lot of rest [Sunday], there’s a lot of guys that have played a lot of minutes over the last 24 hours or whatever it is,” coach Lane Lambert said, “and Pittsburgh is the big game.”