Are the Islanders dead men walking yet? It feels that way after going six games without a win and four without a standings point.
Crazier things have happened in late surges to become wild card fodder, but trailing by five points and four teams with eight games to go requires bending reality at event horizon levels. But they’re also five points above the bottom of the conference, so...maybe there’s some draft lottery interest?
The remaining opponents include a couple of fellow downtrodders (Nashville, Philadelphia) and teams that are either playing for a spot (Minnesota, Rangers, Columbus) or for history (Washington), some theatre of macabre is still in store.