Islanders Gameday News: Pretty big game tonight against the Bolts
Horvat says he hasn’t played wing since his first year in juniors, but he’s going to tonight. | Photo by Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Is that an understatement? Roy is switching up his lines and not changing his goalie for this highly anticipated contest. Although there’s still a deficit to make up over the final 10 games, the lane has opened back up for the New York Islanders. I don’t need to lay it out for you, but I’m going to anyway:
They’re four points behind, and even in games played with, the Washington Capitals for the last wild card, and the Detroit Red Wings sit between them. The Isles are two points behind Detroit with a game in hand. And they’re five points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third in the Metro with two games in hand and a massive head-to-head matchup on Monday. The New Jersey Devils’ thin hopes took a hit when the Devils lost to the Buffalo Sabres late in regulation last night, remaining a point behind the Islanders with two extra games played.
Bear in mind that the Islanders will most likely be on the wrong side of any tiebreakers, so they will probably need to finish a point better than whoever they’re chasing. But unlike the Wings, the Isles, Caps, and Flyers all potentially have two spots to grab. The Islanders’ last head-to-head game against any of these teams is Monday against the Flyers, but Washington still has to play both Detroit and Philly.
The Islanders still need some help, but this isn’t as impossible as it felt a few days ago. The Flyers play the Blackhawks tonight at home, so we can’t expect too much help there. However, the Capitals are hosting the Boston Bruins, and the Red Wings have to visit the Florida Panthers this afternoon—who probably will come out hard in response to Paul Maurice blasting them for their effort against the Islanders on Thursday.
If this is going to happen, though, the Islanders need to win games themselves, most importantly. They got a big win against one of the East’s best teams on Thursday, but now they go up against the hottest team in the East and one of their biggest rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning. I believe I read that besides Game 1 in the 2021 Semifinal, the Islanders haven’t won a game in Tampa in eight years. It’s a tall task, but let’s see how they step up, perhaps make some big plays.
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Islanders News
A preview of tonight’s massive game. Patrick Roy has made a line adjustment, moving Casey Cizikas and Bo Horvat to the wing. [Islanders] Roy is not rigidly adhering to the traditional “don’t change anything after a win” mentality. [NY Post]
#Isles lines at Friday’s practice: Cizikas-Nelson-PalmieriLee-Barzal-FaschingEngvall-Pageau-HorvatMartin-MacLean-ClutterbuckE: Holmstrom, WahlstromPelech-DobsonReilly-PulockRomanov-BortuzzoE: Bolduc-AhoVarlamovSorokin— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) March 29, 2024
Semyon Varlamov will be back in net. He’s the hot hand right now. [Newsday | NY Post | THN]
Mathew Barzal says he likes playing with Hudson Fasching, who, in his opinion, has an “underrated” vision and a “high IQ” and plays good defense. [THN]
Cal Clutterbuck, who took a beating on Thursday, is the first player to have thrown 4,000 hits since they started keeping track. All Hail the Hit King, but not Pete Rose. [The Athletic]
A new Weird Islanders dropped yesterday. Kevin Schultz joined the fellas to talk about some weird Isles minor-leaguers. [LHH]
Elsewhere
Only one game in the NHL last night, and it was helpful: The Sabres came back from down 2-0 on the back of a Tage Thompson natural hat trick (with an empty-netter to cap a four-goal night) to beat the Devils in regulation, preventing New Jersey from hopping over the Islanders in the standings.
The Colorado Avalanche and idle Vancouver Canucks could clinch playoff spots by the end of the day. [NHL]
The Philadelphia Flyers brought over Russian goalie Ivan Fedotov, and he's eligible to play the rest of the regular season and postseason. [NHL]
John Carlson is set to play game 1,000 for the Capitals tonight against the Bruins. I hope he loses! [NHL]
The epic odyssey of 19,000 extorted Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads. That is a series of words I never could have ever imagined typing a month ago. [The Athletic]
It’ll probably never happen because of travel concerns, but it would be pretty cool for the league to go back to the 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15 etc. playoff format, says this writer. It was only in place for two seasons, the Isles’ first two Cup years; they wouldn’t have been able to play the Flyers in the Final without that format. [The Athletic]
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