NEW YORK (PIX11) -- Let's give a little bit of love to the New York Islanders.
They have won three straight and four of their last five games. They find themselves in the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with six games to go. If the season ended today, we would get Rangers-Islanders in the opening round of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.
Center Matthew Barzal has been fantastic with 23 goals and 55 assists with a total of 78 points. Noah Dobson, Bo Horvat, and Brock Nelson contributed 60-plus points. Ilya Sorokin has been tremendous in his last two starts, with 1.51 goals against and a .935 save percentage.
After their 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, head coach Patrick Roy said he does not see many holes in their game right now and he is right. Their 5-on-5 scoring advantage against the Blue Jackets was 42-15, which is very impressive. It has been a whirlwind of a season for the Islanders, featuring President Lou Lamoriello's coaching change decision.
But make no mistake about it, the Islanders had expectations coming into this season and now they are trying to make up for time lost and punch their ticket for the postseason.
For the hockey fan, if we were to get Rangers-Islanders, with all the history, with the hate both fan bases have for each other in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, it would be a treat for us all.
Head coach Patrick Roy replaced Lane Lambert during the season, to get this team to the playoffs. They are playing their best hockey of the season late in the year. The next game is the most important game, tomorrow night they host the Nashville Predators at UBS.