This stop-and-start Islanders’ season has come to another break amid an NHL-wide COVID-19 outbreak. The team is hoping it doesn’t sap whatever momentum has been built.
The Islanders practiced on Monday rather than hosting Montreal as scheduled since games between U.S. and Canadian teams have been postponed through the NHL’s three-day holiday break, which starts Friday. They next face the Capitals on Thursday at UBS Arena after losing a 4-3 shootout to visiting Vegas on Sunday afternoon.
That gave the last-place Islanders (8-12-6) at least one point in seven of their last nine games as they sit 11 points out of the Eastern Conference’s last wild-card spot.