It’s April Fool’s and the Islanders have another date with the Lightning. Tampa is chasing something they can actually attain, the first spot in the Atlantic Division, so they should continue to bring real play.
The Islanders are chasing something they were never very likely to attain, and another challenging opponent could shove them further back in the sad wild card-chasing pack. They’re winless in five, including three consecutive regulation losses. So it’s been eight days since they added a standings point.
Trailing the Canadiens by three points with nine games to go, no Monday games affected their standing either way.