Islanders show mental toughness amid chaotic 48 hours to clinch playoff spot
It was a roller coaster 48 hours for the Islanders.
They entered Monday controlling their playoff destiny, but fell to the Washington Capitals. That allowed the Pittsburgh Penguins to wrest control of the wild card spot from the Isles. New York needed some help and got it in the form of an improbable win by the Chicago Blackhawks over Pittsburgh to give back to them.
How would they respond with that gift? A 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens to secure a place in the playoffs.
“You know, 48 hours ago when we walked out of Washington, we weren't very happy with ourselves,” coach Lane Lambert said after the game. “We talked about just getting ready for the next game. I thought we did a good job of that mentally in our mindset.”
“The ups and downs of the last 48 hours have been crazy,” Hudson Fasching added. “To finally have it settled and we're in the playoffs, it feels great. After that Washington loss, there wasn't a doubt in my mind we were gonna win this game tonight.”
Wednesday’s game started out promising, with a Brock Nelson goal 10:26 into the first period, his 35th of the season. But the Canadiens roared back to tie the game on a goal by Rem Pitlick at 17:38.
The crowd at UBS Arena was deflated by the goal, but Fasching picked them right back up with a goal just 1:19 later to give the Islanders momentum heading into the second period, and a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“The energy in there tonight was insane,” Fasching said. “I keep saying it, I'm gonna be impressed that they can make it louder for the playoffs because it was pretty crazy out there today and the energy there is awesome.”
The Islanders will eventually host a home playoff game in UBS arena for the first time. Who they’ll be skating against has yet to be determined.
A Florida Panthers loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday will allow the Islanders to hold onto the first Wild Card spot and a date with the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round. A Panthers win will set the Islanders up for a matchup with the vaunted Boston Bruins.
Who the Islanders prefer to play isn’t on Lambert or the team’s minds. They are just happy to have made it to the postseason.
“It's pretty gratifying,” Lambert said. “It's cliche. Yes, it's the first step, but it's a very difficult step. It's a step that required 82 games. It doesn't always require the full 82 but for us it did. There's a lot of things that go on, whether it be injuries or whatever you have to fight through. And I thought our group, from top to bottom, did a great job of grinding through it and finding a way to get to where we are right now.”
“Ever since the All-Star break we made a commitment to putting ourselves in a position to have an opportunity that we had tonight,” Anders Lee who scored the fourth Islanders goal, said. “Guys put in a lot of work. We played extremely hard and we've got our foot in the door, a seat at the table and let's take a day here, see what happens and go from there.”
With the Islanders’ regular season over, the team can now sit back and find out who their first-round opponent will be with the postseason starting Monday, April 17.
