The New York Islanders’ playoff push might have begun to stall with a loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 7.
Now, the Jets might be the final opponent the Islanders see before a successful era ends later this week.
The Islanders will look to win their final game before what could be an eventful trade deadline when they host the Jets on Tuesday in Elmont, N.Y.
The Islanders will be completing a back-to-back set after they dropped a 4-0 decision to the host New York Rangers on Monday night, The Jets haven’t played since Saturday, when they fell 2-1 to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers in a shootout.
The loss continued an untimely skid for the Islanders, who climbed back into the playoff race by winning seven straight games from Jan. 18 through Feb. 1. They followed that up by losing six of their past nine games. New York’s second loss in that stretch was a 4-3 setback to the Jets in its penultimate game before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
The Islanders have fallen into 14th place in the Eastern Conference, five points behind the Rangers and Detroit Red Wings in the race for the final wild-card spot.
While general manager Lou Lamoriello is averse to selling at the deadline, the Islanders would be well-positioned to reload if they made impending free agents Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri available as well as veterans such as captain Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, each of whom are signed through next season.
Moving on from some or all of those four players would represent a turning of the page for the Islanders, who staved off potential rebuilding efforts by overcoming slow starts to reach the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons. Nelson and Lee are career-long members of the organization and were with the team for the semifinal run in the Canadian bubble in 2020 before Palmieri was acquired in April 2021.
“We know where we are in the standings,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “But at the same time, this is a group that is resilient and we’re going to continue to work hard. We’re going to continue to push. How many times last year (did) I (have) to answer that question and we made the playoffs?”
Making the playoffs won’t be an issue for the Jets, who lead the NHL with 88 points and a goal-differential of plus-71 even after losing their past two games. The back-to-back defeats were preceded by an 11-game winning streak – a franchise record but also the third time this season Winnipeg has won at least seven straight games.
Still, dropping consecutive 2-1 games — the Nashville Predators earned a 2-1 win last Thursday — represents at least some cause for concern for Winnipeg.
The Jets’ recent power play woes continued during the consecutive losses.
Winnipeg, which still leads the NHL with a 30.5 percent success rate on the power play, was 0-for-7 on the man advantage against the Predators and Flyers and is 0-for-16 in such situations in its past six games overall dating back to the win over the Islanders.
“I think our power play has gotten better over the last few games — at least (going) in the right direction,” Jets left winger Nikolaj Ehlers said. “But still too many mistakes and too many bad passes.”
–Field Level Media
