The New York Islanders defeated their "toughest" remaining opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning, on Thursday night. Now they host the Philadelphia Flyers.
One game down. Three to go.
The hard part's over right for the New York Islanders, right?
They took down a team they had not beaten in the regular season since December of 2019, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1 on Thursday night.
It was an impressive effort from start to finish, a game tape that should be on replay in the locker room.
All that stands in their way are three non-playoff teams: The Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, and Montreal Canadiens.
Winning all three would guarantee playoff hockey for New York after missing a season ago.
However, calling these final games easy would be anything but the truth.
The Islanders have lost to all three teams this season, and anything short of a complete effort could be disastrous.
While there's a plethora of reasons why New York isn't safe with three games to go, there are also reasons why they hold one of the final two wild-card spots and are not on the outside looking in.
When they get to their game early, they become a tough team to play against -- especially if they light the lamp first -- given their shutdown style of play.
Let's look back at the matchups against the Flyers, who they host on Saturday night at 7:30 PM ET.
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (2-1-0)
The New York Islanders have not played stellar against John Tortorella's squad this season. Regardless, they have won two of three, splitting two games at Wells Fargo Center and winning the only one at UBS Arena.
The first two meetings of the 2022-23 season were a home-and-home situation at the end of November.
On Nov. 26, the Islanders defeated the Flyers 5-2. As he did on Thursday night, Pelech scored the opening tally. But a lackluster start to the second period forced the Islanders to come back from down 2-1 before scoring four unanswered goals.
The power play, currently sitting at 15.9 percent, went two for three that night, with netminder Semyon Varlamov stopping 28 of 30.
This was also the game where Alexander Romanov got jumped for tapping Flyers forward Kevin Hayes. Oliver Wahlstrom threw Tony DeAngelo around for a few.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh5yI8xJNWI[/embed]
That bad blood boiled over to their meeting a few days later, as it seemed the Islanders focused more on fighting than on the game, losing 3-1.
Noah Dobson did score just over three minutes into the first period, but the Islanders allowed a shorthanded marker less than two minutes later before Hayes potted two.
The Islanders' power play went just one-for-four, and at five-on-five, the Islanders generated few shots, with just 24 to the Flyers' 33. They were out-hit, out-blocked, and gave the puck away rather often.
Sorokin stopped 30 of 32.
However, in Bo Horvat's debut with New York, the Islanders beat the Flyers 2-1. They got shots on goal, scored on the power play, and played their shutdown style to close the game out.
Varlamov stopped 25 of 26.
Season Stats:
GF/GA: 8-6
PP: 4-for-10 (40%)
FO%: 71-for-140 (50.71%)
Goal Scorers: Zach Parise (2 PPG), Brock Nelson, Mathew Barzal, Kyle Palmieri (PPG), Noah Dobson (PPG), Anthony Beauvillier
Assists: Ryan Pulock (4), Josh Bailey, Barzal, Nelson, Sebastian Aho, Parise, Beauvillier
Goalie Stats: Semyon Varlamov (2-0-0, 1.50 GAA, .944 SV%), Ilya Sorokin (0-1-0, 2.04 GAA, .938 SV%)