High Anxiety for the Islanders in the Wild Card Sprint

The Wild Card Race reaches the far turn with eight games remaining for the Islanders in the homestretch.

High Anxiety.

And it's getting higher as the Wild Card Race reaches the far turn with eight games remaining for the Islanders in the homestretch.

The good news for coach Lane Lambert's club is positioning.

They hold the first wild card spot -- something that would have been considered impossible in mid-February when they hugged the abyss -- despite a 2-0 loss to Buffalo last night at UBS arena

The margin is only a point over Pittsburgh, which has a game in hand, and also remain four ahead of Florida which also has played one less game than the Isles. Meanwhile, the Sabres are coming up fast on the inside, seven points behind the Nassaumen but with two games in hand.

"We're going to have to fight for it," said Kyle Palmieri after his mates dropped what basically was a one-goal (Kyle Okposo) game until Jeff Skinner's open-netter. Okposo's tally late in the third was a toughie considering Semyon Varlamov's superior game in goal.

What matters is that the Islanders are right in the thick of the race that matters to them despite the weekend bumps that produced only a point out of a possible four. Now they have to take some deep breaths before hosting the playoff-clinched Devils on Monday night in Elmont.

As for avoiding future bumps, Lambert's stickhandlers have to refill their tanks and look at the positives that began with Varlamov playing impressively in goal despite not having been in front of the pipes since March 11. His saves from the first period through the third kept his club within striking distance. When you think about it, 33 saves out of 34 shots is a darn good percentage.

The Islanders penalty kill was a flawless three for three and the club had a wide 69% faceoff advantage.

Although Bo Horvat failed to score, he led the club with five shots on goal and for the sixth straight game he had more than three shots. That said, coach Lambert did not shy away from the debits. "Our overall execution was poor," he concluded. "We were passing and not shooting when we had the opportunities."

Anders Lee: "We were not good enought tonight." Which was another way of saying that too often the Isles were a step behind the play.

As for the zany race to the Finish Line, Pittsburgh's win over Washington clearly indicates to me that the Penguins will be the primary threat to the Isles with Florida right behind. The fact that the Panthers -- at home -- blew a two-goal lead to the Rangers, and lost suggests that the Cats are a secondary threat but still very much a formidable foe.

With the youngest team in the league, the Sabres are capable of continuing a hot streak. Interestingly, Buffalo's captain -- and old pal from his Coliseum days -- Kyle Okposo still views the Isles' Wild Card chances optimistically.

"They know how to win," Kyle commented after the game. "They know how to work it down."

Working down the Devils on Monday will be a challenge. New Jersey still has designs on first place and is paced by 40-goal man Jack Hughes, not to mention such hot scorers such as Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer and Dougie Hamilton who is having a career year on defense. Both Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid have been more than solid in goal for coach Lindy Ruff.

The bottom line for the Islanders is that there's little margin for error in this hurry-up homestretch. But they're still on top and now have to demonstrate that they can stay there.

Or to put it in a cerebral sense; a Wild Card race=high anxiety.