The Islanders came away from a headscratching road back-to-back weekend with two points — they lost the game to a bad team, in which they played excellently, and won a game against a decent and desperate team in which they were clearly gassed. Losing to the Red Wings and beating the Wild will likely be footnotes at the end of the season, though, and the Islanders’ Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot is down to 11, and to clinch the division 21, according to Eric Hornick’s Skinny linked below.
The Islanders start the week in first place in the Metropolitan Division, the latest in the season they’ve led their division since 1988.