Islanders' must-win game against Flyers not a new experience
Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders skates against Rasmus Ristolainen of the Flyers during the third period at UBS Arena on Nov. 25, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
PHILADELPHIA — The Islanders on Monday night played what, by a conservative count, felt like their 10th straight must-win and/or biggest game of the season, depending on who was dishing the hyperbole.
They faced off with the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center with the Islanders five points behind the hosts for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot with two games in hand and only eight additional games on their schedule.
The Islanders, concluding a three-game road trip, entered the game in a 2-7-1 slide after Saturday night’s 4-1 loss to the Lightning. So they have not necessarily risen to the challenge of a playoff push.
But there’s also a belief that the constant string of playoff-like, high-pressure games should be beneficial.
“Mentally, you have to be strong in these situations and in these moments, right?” Bo Horvat said. “This is what you play for. This is what you want to play for. You want to be playing to get in the playoffs.”
The other pertinent question is whether this kind of stretch can mentally wear down a team.
“No,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “This is why you play the game. Both teams trying to play for a playoff spot. A divisional game. This time of the year, it gives you energy to play these meaningful games. Saying that, you control the emotions, but definitely a lot of excitement.”
“I feel like this is what we do,” Mathew Barzal said. “We know the last 20 [games] are a sprint and there’s really no time to do anything other than focus on hockey. There’s no time for entertainment outside of hockey. Mentally, everyone is in a little bubble right now focusing on the season.”
Barzal added that every game feels like “a war right now. It’s better that way. Blinders on.”
The Islanders, under former coach Lane Lambert, made it work last season, squeezing into the playoffs with a win in their regular-season finale as they finished the season on an 8-4-1 run.
New coach Patrick Roy, who replaced Lambert on Jan. 20, hasn’t yet coaxed consistency out of the Islanders.
But Roy does know a lot about rising to the challenge as a Hall of Fame goalie who won two Stanley Cups each with the Canadiens and Avalanche.
It’s an intangible that not every player or team possesses.
“It’s funny because I always tried to answer that question myself,” Roy said. “I just let the game come. For some reason, my focus was better. I always responded better on knowing, like, overtime, right from the start, you didn’t want to let one in and you wanted to give your team a chance to win. It was easy to come up for those games.”
The tougher part is being reminded how important each game is.
“What’s draining is to answer the question,” Roy said. “Every game is a big game when you’re chasing a playoff spot. You’re approaching every game the same way. You don’t try to change things. You do the same things and you focus on the same things.”
“It’s do-or-die and that’s mentally draining, but that’s all part of the game,” Horvat said.
If the Islanders somehow qualify for the playoffs this season, they’ll at least be acclimated to must-win games, though that wasn’t the case last season when they lost in the first round in six games to the Hurricanes.
“Every game seems like it’s do-or-die in the playoffs,’’ Horvat said, “so to get that kind of mindset at this time of the year going into the playoffs is big for our group.”
Notes & quotes: Goalie Semyon Varlamov started a third straight game for the first time in exactly two years, his last run of three in a row being March 29-April 1, 2022. But Roy said Ilya Sorokin is “probably going to play” on Tuesday night against Chicago at UBS Arena. Sorokin’s last outing was a 4-0 loss to the visiting Devils on March 24, his sixth straight defeat. He’s allowed 16 goals in his last four starts . . . The Islanders wore their home blue jerseys as the Flyers donned their white Stadium Series uniforms . . . Forwards Oliver Wahlstrom and Simon Holmstrom and defensemen Samuel Bolduc and Sebastian Aho remained healthy scratches.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
