The New York Islanders continue to learn the hard way exactly why the Tampa Bay Lightning have won two Stanley Cups and gained the Final round three times in the past three years.
The Islanders continue to learn the hard way exactly why the Lightning have won two Stanley Cups and gained the Final round three times in the past three years.
That said, believe it or not, there's a rainbow at the end of the Islanders' 5-0 loss at Tampa Bay last night.
Make that plural. Rainbows.
For starters, coach Lane Lambert's skaters still hold first place in the wildest-of-all-Wildcard Races. They're two ahead of Florida and three ahead of Pittsburgh (The Penguins have a game in hand.) Plus, the Nassaumen are 16-7-4 in their last 27 games and had just previously won a pair in a row.
The 5-0 count last night was deceptive. Of the four goals -- two deflections -- that beat Ilya Sorokin before he was pulled, only Nikita Kucherov's clean breakaway might have been stopped.
That the Isles goalkeeper -- he otherwise appeared sharp -- got the hook with half a game left means that Ilya could be rested enough to start tonight against the Hurricanes in Raleigh.
And let's not forget that the Canes also will be in a back-to-back situation having played last night in Montreal. Neither team should be affected by the "no-rest" factor.
Surprisingly -- based on the shutout -- the Isles were solid offensively; firing 20 shots alone in the second period. It just happened that the Bolts-Best, Andrei Vasilevskiy, was his usual hot self on all 38 tries.
The game's turning point occurred midway through the second period with the home team ahead 2-0 and the visitors firing hard -- especially two Sam Bolduc slappers from the point -- but not in.
Kucherov's breakaway goal clearly was the backbreaker. It also was the point at which Lambert believed a netminding change to Semyon Varlamov would jolt his club to better action. But -- as it happened -- it was too late.
"We just didn't have awareness," Lambert explained.
One observer put it another way: "The Islanders gave Tampa forwards too much respect."
"We had a couple of breakdowns," added Kyle Palmieri, "and some bad bounces."
Arguably, the best news for the Isles took place away from the state of Florida. The right-on-their-tails Penguins were beaten at home last night by Boston. And it was revealed that recuperating Mat Barzal will begin skating. However, at present, there's no timetable on when he might return to action.
Following tonight's game, the Isles return home to UBS for another bout with the Lightning on Thursday. They'll close the homestretch with three more games; first against the Flyers next Saturday (April 8).
The final pair will be Monday in Washington (April 10) with the finale on Wednesday, April 12, in Elmont against the Canadiens.
But the focus now has to be on yet another ultra-critical game; tonight in Raleigh. The club's leaders, starting with captain Anders Lee, must rejuvenate a team that this season often has displayed heroic rebound-ability.
"We weren't sharp at all in Tampa," Lee concluded, "but now we have an opportunity against the Canes."
A win would make that aforementioned rainbow a lot brighter!