TRH GAMEDAY 74: NEW YORK ISLANDERS – Playoff Island
Barring a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals by each team, tonight will be the last game that the LA Kings ever play at the Nassau Colesium.
In just a few short months, the NY Islanders will pack up their franchise and move a little over 20 miles to the Barclays Center. And as much as fun as it would be to take a look back at the storied history of the Coliseum, there are are more important things afoot.
Namely that the Kings can jump back into a playoff spot with a win tonight. Thanks to a pair of big wins against the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers, coupled with a Calgary Flames loss in the shootout last night, the Kings once again control their own destiny.
In recent years the idea of the Kings beating the Islanders would be all but a forgone conclusion. In fact, the Kings have gone 8-1-2 against the Islanders since the 2005 lockout. But these aren’t the Islanders of old. They currently sit in the No. 2 spot in the Metropolitan Division, just ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Earlier this season, the Kings and Islanders faced-off in a hard fought game in which New York prevailed in the shootout.
Remember when Jonathan Quick used to keep his cool?
So tonight, the stakes are high for both teams. The Islanders need to keep pace if they want home ice in the first round of the playoffs. And if the Kings can somehow find a way to beat Jaroslav Halak, they’ll be able to leapfrog the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets into a playoff spot. …even thought that sentence is 100 percent true it makes absolutely no sense.
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