The New York Islanders have not resembled a playoff team in recent weeks.
The fading Islanders begin a stretch of four must-win games Saturday afternoon when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers to kick off the final weekend of the regular season.
New York (34-33-11, 79 points) trails the Montreal Canadiens by eight points with four games remaining. The Canadiens lost to the Ottawa Senators on Friday night and have three games remaining.
The Islanders appeared to be in good position to qualify for the playoffs after defeating the Canadiens on March 20. However, the team is 2-5-3 in its last 10 games, allowing at least four goals in all eight of those defeats.
Most recently, the Isles were trounced by the New York Rangers 9-2 on Thursday. The Islanders allowed four goals in both the first and third periods against a Rangers team that had been outscored 17-6 in its previous three outings.
“Obviously, we didn’t manage the puck very well, and turnovers were the difference in that game,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “…They didn’t have that many chances, but the chances they had were caused by mistakes that we cannot make if we want to win games like this.”
Hudson Fasching and Maxim Tsyplakov scored for the Islanders, who have given up 16 goals over the last two games. Marcus Hogberg allowed eight goals on 30 shots before Tristan Lennox came on to finish Thursday’s contest.
“It seemed that everything they did tonight went in,” Islanders forward Bo Horvat said. “It’s not even a fault of our goaltending or anything like that, it’s more about us giving them the great opportunities that we gave them. … That’s on us tonight. It’s definitely not good enough and unacceptable on our part.”
Meanwhile, Philadelphia (32-39-9, 73 points) sits in last place in the Metropolitan Division. That said, the Flyers have won four of their last five games, including an 8-5 victory over the Rangers on Wednesday.
Tyson Foerster capped his first career hat trick with an empty-netter, giving him 22 goals on the season — two shy of Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov for the team lead.
“Twenty goals is a nice threshold and there’s not many guys that do it,” Flyers coach Brad Shaw said. “Never mind his age (23), he hasn’t been given a ton of offensive responsibility either, so for him to do it sort of in a checking-line role is probably even more impressive. … Couldn’t be happier for him to get that hat trick tonight.”
Owen Tippett and Travis Sanheim each scored and set up a goal for Philadelphia, while Nick Seeler chipped in three assists.
“Credit to the group, I don’t think this locker room is ever going to quit and give up,” Sanheim said. “We show up every night, we’ve got a job to do. Our main goal right now is just to try to finish the season strong and end on a positive note.”
The Islanders have won two of their first three meetings with the Flyers this season, although the teams have not met since late January.
–Field Level Media
