Reflection may come with time but, for now, there is only the pain of playoff elimination for the Islanders.
Mathew Barzal plans to feed off that emotion in the future.
“It’s unfortunate because you never know when you’re going to be back in this position,” Barzal said. “Personally, I don’t know if in two months I’m going to look back and I’m going to be very satisfied. It stings. The only positive I can really take out of it is you’ve really kind of have to feel this way to get over the hump and know how this feeling actually feels.