The New York Islanders are in danger of falling out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture
The Eastern Conference playoff race continues to be one of the most exciting stories in hockey as we enter the final few days of the regular season.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, and New York Islanders are all competing for the final two spots in the East. And while it looked like the Penguins and Islanders had it all locked up just a couple of weeks ago, the Panthers have forced their way back into the mix thanks to a three-game winning streak.
The Islanders have four games left. Pittsburgh and Florida still have five to play. And as Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed on Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, it’s beginning to look like the Islanders might end up on the wrong side of the playoff picture in the end …
Tyler Yaremchuk: If the Eastern Conference playoff race were a rollercoaster, you got a bit of everything going on. Some teams going for loops, some teams taking nosedives, and then as one takes a nosedive, one shoots right back up. It felt like, at this time last week, Frank, we were like, “well, the Panthers are dead, no playoffs in Florida.” And then they go rattle off three in a row and the Islanders, who looked like they had a spot locked up, have now lost two in a row. Things are flip-flopping like crazy.
If Florida wins their game in hand, they’re going to move into a tie with the Islanders. And if they win their game in hand in regulation, they’re gonna jump ahead of the Islanders because they would then hold the tiebreaker. Are the Islanders legitimately in danger of missing here, Frank? Do you think this is a possibility?
Frank Seravalli: Yeah, I think that’s what this weekend taught us, is that the New York Islanders are way more vulnerable than I might’ve imagined or realized. Part of it’s because the Panthers have gotten their act together a little bit and part of it’s because I still don’t really know what to make of the New York Islanders. Like, you look at their lineup and it’s hard for me to really count them out, because Ilya Sorokin, I think, is such a game-changer. But, at the same time, these are critical games and their schedule isn’t all that daunting going down the stretch.
I have a hard time envisioning, especially after the way this weekend played out, that the Penguins are gonna be on the outside looking in when it’s all said and done. They’re a tease, they do just enough to get by. […] To me, that boils us down to Islanders and Panthers, who gets in? I still lean Islanders, based on the goaltending in Sorokin, but, again, the Panthers have made this really interesting.
Watch the full episode here: