Islanders’ loss — and more factors — signifantly narrow path to playoffs

Technically, the Islanders were not eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday with a 3-0 defeat to the Senators.

But the first word in that sentence is doing some heavy lifting.

The only pathway for the Islanders now is to win their last two games — against Montreal on Sunday and Carolina on Tuesday — and get significant help. 

For starters, the Flyers need to lose two of their last three, with games against Winnipeg Saturday night, Carolina on Monday and Montreal on Tuesday.

The Islanders were also in danger of being passed by both Columbus and Washington by the end of Saturday if both teams won.

So it’s not just the Flyers they need to lose, but also the Blue Jackets and Capitals.

“We gotta control what we can control,” captain Anders Lee said. “Let’s have a good response tomorrow. Win our games. We’re gonna need some help but all we can do now, this game’s over, unfortunately. We just gotta respond with our own game.”

Had the Islanders beaten Ottawa, they would have suddenly felt quite good about their playoff chances. With the Flyers not playing until later on Saturday, the Isles would have gotten back into a spot for at least a few hours, putting significant pressure on Philadelphia.

So much for that.

It took eight losses in their last 12 games, all of which came in regulation. But after being in a playoff spot uninterrupted for over 3 months, the Islanders are on the brink of completing a monumental collapse.

“It doesn’t feel great right now but we’re still alive,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “We gotta win our last two games and make somebody earn that last spot.”

Lee said that he asked Brady Tkachuk to fight off the opening draw, with the Ottawa captain reciprocating after Lee had acceded to his request last month in the Canadian capital.

“Want to get the crowd going. I thought we had a great response,” Lee said. “Our guys were ready to go. They didn’t need that. They didn’t need that to get going tonight. But thought we could do it again.”

Max Shabanov was out with an upper-body injury and called day to day. Kyle MacLean reentered the lineup, taking his usual spot on the fourth line while Ondrej Palat moved up to the third.