Back-to-back games against one of the few NHL teams already likely out of playoff contention seemingly present the New York Islanders with a valuable opportunity to gain ground in the crowded Eastern Conference wild-card race.
But the Chicago Blackhawks began their three-game road trip by proving there are no sure things in the NHL.
The Islanders will look to get back in the win column and the Blackhawks will again attempt to play early-season spoiler Thursday night, when New York begins a two-game set against Chicago in Elmont, N.Y.
The two teams are slated to play again Sunday afternoon in Chicago, one day after the Blackhawks conclude their road trip by visiting the New Jersey Devils.
The Islanders were off Wednesday after their two-game winning streak ended Tuesday, when they fell to the visiting Los Angeles Kings 3-1. The Blackhawks haven’t played since Monday, when they snapped a five-game losing streak by edging the New York Rangers 2-1.
The loss to the Kings cost the Islanders an opportunity to at least temporarily climb into an Eastern Conference wild-card spot. The New York teams each ended Tuesday with 29 points, one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers in the race for the two wild cards. Fifteen of the 16 teams in the Eastern Conference are within four points of a playoff spot.
The defeat also further magnified the Islanders’ small margin of error on both sides of the ice without first-liners Mathew Barzal (upper body) and Anthony Duclair (lower body) and defensemen Adam Pelech (jaw) and Mike Reilly (heart), who are all dealing with long-term issues expected to keep them out weeks to months.
The Islanders were outshot 30-20 Tuesday, two nights after they beat the Ottawa Senators 4-2 despite being outshot 31-13. Seven of New York’s 13 points in the last three games have been scored by three players: Anders Lee (three points), Kyle Palmieri and Noah Dobson.
“We’ll take the things that we could clean up — we can do a better job off the rush, in the last couple games, we gave up too many chances there,” Dobson said. “We have to reset and get ready for Thursday.”
The Blackhawks’ imperfections were also on display Monday, when they won for the first time since Nov. 27, beating the New York Rangers 2-1.
The victory isn’t likely to spark a playoff push for Chicago, whose 20 points are tied with the Nashville Predators for the fewest in the NHL and 13 fewer than the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, who enter Thursday tied for the last wild-card spot.
Chicago has scored 12 goals in the last six games and 67 goals overall this season, the third-fewest in the NHL entering Wednesday.
The Blackhawks scored first Monday, as they did four times during their losing streak, but improved to 2-17-2 when scoring two or fewer goals thanks to Taylor Hall’s game-winner 6:16 into the second against the Rangers.
The win was the first for interim head coach Anders Sorensen, who replaced Luke Richardson Dec. 5.
“We need to get a winning feeling consistently,” Hall said. “One win’s not good enough. We need to stick together and get two, three, four wins. I think you’re going to see a lot more guys play with confidence, play on their toes and a bit more smiles out there.”
