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Still fighting for something. | Getty Images
The Islanders’ seasonlong power play failings came back to bit them in a big way as they suffered a near-fatal 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators at home Saturday afternoon.
It was a terrible time to suffer just their second shutout of the season, but it was well deserved with a fumbling power play (0-for-5, just three shots and a shorthander conceded) and an offense that otherwise could not mount much threat. The effort was there but the cohesion was not as the Isles allowed Linus Ullmark a 23-save shutout.
The result puts the Senators right on the precipice of a playoff spot, while the Islanders’ chances are so narrow that now even the Capitals have an upper hand.
[NHL Gamecenter | Game Summary | Event Summary | Natural Stat Trick]
Brady Tkachuk and Anders Lee fought again at the opening draw, so whoopee for them. The real turning point in the first period was a Ridly [sic] Greig [sic] shorthanded goal that followed a cascade of misplays. J-G Pageau’s drop pass in side the blueline was a flailer, Tony DeAngelo was oddly slow in entering the zone and — as he admitted in postgame — missed both puck and body, and then the backchecking Isles Pageau and Lee did not get enough of the men they pursued. Greig’s backhand slice was clever and just inside the post, but you’d like Ilya Sorokin to have that too.
If you stopped watching after that, you saved yourself much frustration. The Isles would get one more power play in the first, a couple in the second and a final one for good measure in the third, but each only served to highlight this perennial weakness and the Senators’ defensive focus.
The Sens added insult with a power play conversion of their own just past the halfway point of the third. An empty netter finished the scoring and felt like a shout out to the squad that was Patrick Roy’s until a week ago.
The path to a playoff spot is exclusively third place in the Metro, occupied by Philadelphia who is a point ahead before they face a playoff-hopes-on-life-support Winnipeg in the evening. The Capitals’ own win over a Penguins team that’s resting everybody means Washington now joins the Isles with 91 points — and holds the tiebreaker.
Up Next
If the Islanders win both of their remaining games and those two don’t keep pace, then…there’s still a chance.
For now, we scoreboard watch and then peek through our fingers when the Isles host the Canadiens Sunday night.
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