Scoreboard Watching Guide for Islanders Fans on Thursday

It’s rare on a busy Thursday night in the NHL where the New York Islanders won’t have a game themselves. Instead, the team is on their way to Winnipeg for a Friday night date with the first-place Winnipeg Jets.

Islanders’ Head Coach Patrick Roy already confirmed Ilya Sorokin will start in goal not just tomorrow but very likely Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild as well. (Credit: NYIslanders on X). Hudson Fasching has been activated off of Injured Reserve but did not appear to be drawing into the lineup for Friday night.

With a night off and after some ugly weather today on Long Island, Islanders fans can settle in and enjoy some hockey elsewhere. There are even some games that directly affect the Islanders’ playoff push. First, let’s establish some ground rules.

Magic and Tragic Number Breakdown:

First, all credit to the formula and how it works is simple. For the Islanders to make the playoffs, their magic number must hit 0 before their tragic number does.

The way to calculate each is simple but a little hairy.

First, the magic number equation: 165 minus (-) Islanders’ total points minus (-) points lost by any team you want to know. In this case, the closest teams in the race to the Islanders by points percentage are the wild card teams, such as the Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, and Tampa Bay Lightning, to name a few.

To calculate the tragic number, it’s 165 minus (-) Islanders’ points lost minus (-) total points earned by any team in the race. Credit to @IslesMagicNumber on X, formerly known as Twitter, for establishing this and always having a running guide. it will be vital down the stretch.

The Islanders’ magic number is 61, and the tragic number is 56.

Game #1: Ottawa Senators @ Tampa Bay Lightning, 7 p.m.:

These two teams are two direct opponents that the Islanders are chasing down. Ottawa currently holds third place in the Atlantic Division with 62 points through 54 games. They’re in Tampa Bay to face the Lightning, currently in Wild Card #2, with 60 points in 52 games.

The game tonight swings the Atlantic Division and wild card race. For the Islanders, it’s of little consequence, but the preference is a Tampa Bay win. The Islanders hold games in hand on Ottawa and Detroit, both of whom Tampa Bay passes with a regulation win tonight in the early window.

The magic and tragic numbers move by one if Tampa Bay wins in regulation. Unsurprisingly, the worst case is overtime. If so, only the tragic number would move down, and the magic number would remain frozen for the night.

Game #2: Utah Hockey Club @ Columbus Blue Jackets, 7 p.m.:

Elsewhere in the wild card race, the Columbus Blue Jackets welcome the Utah Hockey Club for the first time to Nationwide Arena. From an Islanders’ standpoint, a Columbus loss is always good.

Presently, the Blue Jackets are ahead of the Islanders by two points but have played one more game. The Islanders hold the tiebreaker, regulation wins, 19-18.

It should be a high-paced, fun game with some snarl. Both teams are fighting to stay in a playoff race, but their mediocre records in the last 10 games have left them trailing the pack.

A Columbus win moves the tragic number by 1 if Tampa Bay does not get a point.

Russell’s Spotlight Game of the Night:

There are a few good games across the NHL tonight, so choosing one to be the game of the night isn’t easy.

A couple of highlights include the Carolina Hurricanes visiting the Minnesota Wild at eight o’clock Eastern, the struggling Vegas Golden Knights in New Jersey taking on the Devils, and a later game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Calgary Flames in a game with playoff implications in the West.

However, the clear game of the night to me is the Senators and Lightning. Just 48 hours ago, the teams locked horns in the exact same arena, and the Bolts came out on top 4-3 in a highly-spirited affair.

Ottawa will be hungry to avenge that loss and really stake a claim for third in the Atlantic while the Lightning are desperate to re-establish the old guard and affirm their spot at the table isn’t being passed over.