After playing awful hockey the first three months of the season that had Jack Capuano fired as head coach, the Islanders are within striking distance of the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with nine games remaining.
They are two points (80) behind the Bruins (82) for the last wild-card spot heading into Thursday’s matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers.
It’s a remarkable job on the Islanders’ part that they are in this position after being counted out in January. That’s a credit to interim coach Doug Weight for getting his players to believe when he was hired to replace Capuano in January.