4 Islanders' Needs With 4 Games To Go

The New York Islanders are in a fight for their lives with four games remaining. Here's four needs for New York, as they currently sit in the second wild-card spot.

With the Pittsburgh Penguins losing Tuesday night in regulation to the New Jersey Devils, the Islanders are in control of their own destiny. 

While the Florida Panthers and Islanders may be tied point-wise, with Florida holding the tiebreaker. 

That shifts the attention to Pittsburgh; If New York goes 4-0-0 to close things out, then the Penguins cannot catch them.

Going undefeated will be a tricky feat, as Tampa just beat the Islanders 5-0 this past Saturday. 

Despite beating the Washington Capitals 2-1 in a shootout last week, the Islanders fell apart against them in the first meeting of the season before being blown out in the second matchup.

The Islanders have played down to their weaker opponents all season long, so neither the Philadelphia Flyers (2-1-0) nor Montreal Canadiens (1-0-1) are easy wins, despite their standings position. 

However, it does help that three of those four games are at home, where the Islanders own a 22-13-3.

"I think being in front of our fans, feeding off their energy, is going to be huge. I mean, this is a time of the year that gets everyone juiced up, Islanders captain Anders Lee told The Hockey News. "Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow night."

The Islanders are undefeated at home when facing the final three teams in Elmont. 

Forward Mathew Barzal has been skating for a few days now, but that doesn't mean he will be back in the lineup before the regular season is all said and done. 

But if there was ever a time...

The Islanders have scored just one total goal over their last two games, three goals over their previous two. Bo Horvat seems desperate for his linemate to return, as the Islanders' locked-up forward has just six goals in 26 games since coming over from Vancouver.

Besides his abilities at five-on-five, Barzal is desperately needed on the power play, as he seems to be the only one with consistency that can carry the puck over the opponent's blue line and get a cycle going. 

The Islanders also need Alexander Romanov back. He was injured Saturday night in Tampa and may miss his second straight game due to an upper-body injury, as he has not skated since.

Lambert had no update on Romanov but did say that Barzal continues to skate on his own, providing no timeframe on when he could return to a team practice. 

The Islanders' defense has had a rough few games. Romanov has shown how good of a defenseman he can be since the All-Star break, and his absence will be felt especially the physicality part.

Sebastian Aho is back in the lineup, which is a positive since he just returned from an upper-body injury on Sunday. 

But Aho isn't Romanov.

That's not to say Samuel Bolduc hasn't been holding his own, but Noah Dobson has struggled, and the rookie hasn't looked as sharp defensively as he did during his first stint with the club. 

With a lackluster offense as of late, the defense will need to raise their game. 

That leads us to Ilya Sorokin.

Netminder Ilya Sorokin has committed highway robbery more times than not this season. Without him in between the pipes, the Islanders could very well be in the Connor Bedard hunt rather than the playoff hunt. 

Sorokin owns a 2.40 GAA with a .923 SV% in 58 appearances, a 32.59 Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA), and a 36.9 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAE).

His most recent steal was when he denied 30 of 31 shots the New Jersey Devils threw his way in a 5-1 win at UBS Arena on Mar. 27.

For as good as he has been, it's about big-time stops with four games to go. 

In no way, shape, or form was the loss to Carolina on Sorokin, who stopped 33 of 35. But the Canes tying goal was one that he wanted back.

And right now, there's no room for error, especially in goal, with how much the offense has struggled lately and now with holes on the backend if Romanov remains out.

It's rather likely that Sorokin will play the remaining four games. 

Here's how he has played against these upcoming opponents this season:

Tampa: 0-2-0, 6.07 GAA, .809 SV%

Philadelphia: 0-1-0, 2.04 GAA, .938 SV%, 

Washington: 1-0-1, 2.33 GAA, .918 SV%

Montreal: 1-0-1, 1.00 GAA, .957 SV%

Although the Islanders play just one playoff team over their final four games, they could use more outside help.

Here's who the Panthers and Penguins play to close out their season:

The Panthers face two elite teams at the backend, using their final game(s) as playoff practice. 

They have split their season series with the Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes, taken both meetings with the Capitals, and lost two out of three to Toronto Maple Leafs. 

The Penguins face two teams vying for the first pick and just one playoff team.

While they've swept the season series against the Columbus Blue Jackets, they have lost both meetings to the Detroit Red Wings this season. They've beaten the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks in their only meetings.

The odds of either of these teams going 4-0-0 are slim since all three teams are in this wild-card conundrum due to inconsistent play. 

The Panthers have beaten all these opponents at least once. The Penguins have beaten three of four.

The New York Islanders have beaten three of four. 

Who wants the spot more?