COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Islanders can see the playoffs just over the horizon. But these last few steps aren’t any easier than the ones before them.
Trying to clinch a spot was delayed by a rather sleepy 4-0 loss to the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. There was a chance if the Isles had won in regulation, and then taken the second game of this trip in Winnipeg on Thursday night, that they would have clinched a spot.
But after Sergei Bobrovsky’s rather simple 26-save shutout, the Isles will now have to wait.
The Islanders (44-26-7) came in having swept a weekend back-to-back over the Flyers and Coyotes, and now trail the Capitals, who defeated the Hurricanes, 4-1 — by three points in the Metropolitan Division.