Tonight was the final regular season Barclays Center game this season. It wasn’t a pretty one by any stretch of the imagination, but as they’ve done a few times this season, the Islanders found a way to win via some good fortune and insanely strong goaltending.
A Slow Start Against a Bad Team with High-End Talent
The Islanders didn’t look too hot through the entire first period. They had a couple isolated chances that made brief Islander Mikko Koskinen work a little bit but play was generally in the Islanders’ zone and they struggled to contain the lethal combination of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — I guess coach Ken Hitchcock figured he might as load up the top line if the rest of the team isn’t very good.