After allowing Alexander Ovechkin’s record 895 goal, the New York Islanders will continue their playoffs as they visit Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
The sports world’s eyes lay on the islanders 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday as Ovechkin passed Wayne Gretzky on the NHL’s All-Time Mall list. But the bigger goal was to win two points and New York never dragged in the game. The islanders already had a 2-0 lead when Ovechkin’s milestone Tally came 7:26 into the second period.
Or, as the islanders published on X: “WSH target. 2-1 #isles.”
“We knew what was at stake, that it would be an exciting game … and just an amazing environment for the league and for their team,” said Islander’s captain Anders Lee. “And I think it ended up being a perfect scenario, to witness a pretty cool story while we got the two points. Make it a memorable day for everyone involved. But at the end of the day, kind of where we are, we needed the victory.”
New York (34-32-10, 78 points) remains seven points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the last Eastern Conference Wild-Card track. The New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings sit between the islanders and Habs in the position.
A 0-4-2 drought drastically put the islanders back in their post-season push, but New York has won their last two matches in the aftermath of the six-game image. The islanders are now seeking more success against one of the NHL’s worst teams when they set a season high for goals in their 7-4 home victory over the predators on March 1.
Nashville (27-42-8, 62 points) did not make the islands any favor in their playoffs on Sunday when the predators lost a 2-1 result to the Canadiens. Despite an advantage of 37-17 shots, the predators fell for good after allowing two goals to HABs within a 4: 07 interval during the second period.
“Same story, different night,” Nashville said forward Michael McCarron. “It’s just been really frustrating here to find ways to win games. … We probably played 55 really good minutes tonight. We had a five -minute past there during the second period, they scored two goals and unfortunately we couldn’t get more.”
The predators are on a six-match losing line and have been outscored 23-10 during that span. This is the third time this season Nashville has been associated in a winless line on sex or more games.
Filip Forsberg leads Nashville in goal (29), Assists (41) and points (70).
Justus Annunen and Juuse Saros have mostly shared the start of the goal over the past six weeks, so Annunen will probably play Tuesday because Saros met Montreal. Annunen has 2.97 goals against the average and a .896 Savings percentage over 21 matches since Nashville acquired the goalkeeper in a trade with Colorado Avalanche on November 30.
Ilya Sorokin will probably be in the opposite network when the islanders are to continue riding their starting destination for these critical late season games. Sorokin has played well during her last 13 matches and went 7-4-2 with a 2.50 GAA and .914 Savings percentage.
Bo Horvat leads the islanders in Assists (27) and points (53) while Lee leads the club with 27 goals.
The predators are 5-0-0 in their last five home games against the islanders and go back to the 2017-18 season.
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