The Islanders started 2024 as they begin their West Coast road trip as they traditionally do the first week or two of January. They faced off against the Colorado Avalanche, the second match up between these two teams, in which Colorado won 7-4 in their last meeting.
If the Islanders make any kind of run this season, a chapter of this season would be titled "Can The Islanders Maintain A Third Period Lead?". The Isles have points in 19 of their last 23 games and have played 21 one-goal games with an 11-1-9 mark.
Islander fans stop me if you heard this before, but, they once again blew a 3-1 lead, as well as a 4-3 lead, in which forced another overtime game. Islanders went into overtime on the penalty kill due to Scott Mayfield taking a holding penalty kill, which set up a Nathan MacKinnon game winning goal 32 seconds into OT.
Yes, it is great the Islanders continue to get a point with an OT loss, racking up their 10th last night against Colorado. But these will all be games, and points that will come back to bite them come April, if they cant learn to close out these games.
Islanders injuries continued to pile up, especially for the defense. Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo went off after getting checked into the boards by Samuel Girard late in the second period. Bortuzzo got up but could not put weight on his right leg and was helped off the ice and into the locker room. Varlamov was the second of two players the Islanders lost during the game. He left at 14:52 after making a save, his 11th of the night, and was replaced by Sorokin.
The Islanders who are currently in 3rd place of the Metro division head to Arizona to take on the Coyotes on Thursday night. With how the season has been going and how they have played Arizona the last few years I wouldn't doubt if this game was a loss. Coyotes have 4 less points than the Isles this season and a solid record at 19-15-2.
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