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NYHN Daily: Lackluster Performance Again for Islanders in Buffalo & More

Published

3 years ago

May 5, 2021

The New York Islanders have left Buffalo with just a mere one point, as they blew a lead for the second straight night, this time losing in a shootout. The Islanders have an abundance of streaky players and as the season trickles down, some of these players are starting to heat up. These stories and more on today’s daily links!

As the New York Islanders head down the final stretch of the regular season, they should be looking to fine-tune their game heading into the postseason. Instead, there might be more wholesale changes needed with another bad loss on to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. This time the Islanders fell, 4-3, in a shootout. (NYI Hockey Now)

The Islanders offense as a whole has gone through its ups and downs when it comes to its scoring touch. One primary reason for the lack of offense during the regular season has been the abundance of streaky players on this team, who have trended in the wrong direction. Fortunately several of them have begun to heat up at the right time. (NYI Hockey Now)

Mathew Barzal went from an off night to a night off. So did grinders Matt Martin and Leo Komarov as coach Barry Trotz starts to rest his regulars before the playoffs. Sitting his top-line center, Trotz said, was not an attention-getter following a dispassionate loss to the NHL-worst Sabres on Monday night. (Newsday)

Boston Bruins goalie Jaro Halak had an epic and old school Tuukka Rask meltdown after he and the Bruins blew two one-goal leads in the third period and eventually lost 4-3 in overtime of the regular-season series finale with the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night. (Boston Hockey Now)

The Penguins quickly rebounded from their otherwise flatline performance on Monday night as they beat the Flyers 7-3. It was not pretty as things got interesting. (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

On Monday night, the playoff-bound Florida Panthers won yet another game that went into overtime as Sasha Barkov’s power-play goal lifted his team to a 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars. With the playoffs coming up later this month, one would surmise that Florida’s success in overtime will bleed over into the postseason. (Florida Hockey Now)

What’s the difference between a “reset” and a “rebuild”? We’ve been trying to distinguish between the two terms since general manager Doug Wilson acknowledged in early March that the San Jose Sharks were in a “reset.” (San Jose Hockey Now)

The NHL and its player safety department gave longtime Capitals instigator Tom Wilson yet another inconsequential slap on the wrist in the form a $5,000 fine for his barbaric behavior against the Rangers Monday night – and the Blueshirts feel betrayed. (NY Post)

Connor McDavid had two assists, and the Edmonton Oilers gained ground in the Scotia North Division with a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday. McDavid leads the NHL with 93 points (31 goals, 62 assists) in 51 games. He is on pace for 102 points this season. (NHL)

Here is the May 5 edition of the mailbag. Each week, an NHL.com writer will answer your questions asked using #OvertheBoards. Will Jonathan Toews return to the Blackhawks next season? Which teams will make the playoffs next year that missed the opportunity this season? (NHL)

Alex Ovechkin is unlikely to play when the Washington Capitals visit the New York Rangers on Wednesday because of a lower-body injury. The forward left after playing one shift in his return to the Capitals in their 6-3 win at the Rangers on Monday. Ovechkin missed the previous four games with the injury. (NHL)

Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for roughing New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich during NHL Game No. 814 in New York on Monday, May 3, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today. (NHL)

Milan Lucic has agreed to waive the no-move clause in his contract with the Calgary Flames ahead of the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft on July 21, Sportsnet reported Tuesday. “As much as I want to stay in Calgary I didn’t want to handcuff [Flames general manager Brad Treliving] in the expansion draft, so I agreed that I would waive it for the expansion draft if he didn’t want to protect me,” Lucic told Sportsnet. (NHL)

Auston Matthews at times has made his march toward history this season look easy. It has been anything but that. The center can become the first Toronto Maple Leafs player in 75 years and the first United States-born player in 24 years to lead the NHL in goals. (NHL)

Hockey’s new 3M Company is a conglomerate of super-scorers: Mario, McDavid, and Matthews. Mario Lemieux has emerged from the history books to act as a measuring stick for the NHL’s current two most prodigious talents. McDavid is the NHL’s best player and Matthews the NHL’s best goal-scorer. (TSN)

New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin will miss the team’s final three games of the season after being injured in an incident with Tom Wilson Monday night. (TSN)

Ottawa Senators defenceman Thomas Chabot is expected to miss the team’s final four games after exiting Monday’s win over the Winnipeg Jets with an upper-body injury. (TSN)