Islanders’ playoff hopes officially dead with crucial offseason decisions ahead
NY Post
PHILADELPHIA —The Islanders didn’t have to wait on the Canadiens.
They got the suspense out of the way early on Saturday, losing to the Flyers, 4-3, on Bobby Brink’s shootout winner to write in ink what’s been clear for a couple of weeks now: The Islanders won’t be going to the playoffs.
Having lost eight of their last 10 entering Saturday, the season flying off the rails after a controversial goaltender interference call reversed Kyle Palmieri’s apparent game-winner against the Blue Jackets back on March 24, the question of whether the Islanders would be eliminated on Saturday or Sunday, via a loss or a Canadiens victory, was merely academic.
“This isn’t where we want to be,” captain Anders Lee said. “It was, and has been, a year where we left games on the table.”
If you’ve spent any time watching the Islanders over the last week, they’ve checked every box of a team playing out the string. Defense has become optional, physicality even more so, the games taking on a decidedly preseason feel.
For two periods and change on Saturday, it looked like the Islanders would at least get the consolation prize of forcing the Canadiens to eliminate them later in the day.
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