Sport 82 of the season wasn’t a completely meaningless train for the Islanders.
The 6-1 loss to the Blue Jackets to complete the 12 months was a humiliation of an effort, to make certain, however in so shedding, the Islanders secured the Tenth-best lottery odds, and with {that a} 3.5 p.c shot of transferring into the highest three and of gaining the No. 1 general choose.
Going into the day, an Islanders win mixed with a Rangers loss would have dropped them to the Eleventh-best lottery odds.
In the event that they don’t win the lottery, even the possibility to draft within the prime 10 can be vital for the Islanders, who haven’t completed so since 2014 after they picked Michael Dal Colle fifth general.
The very best draft alternative Lou Lamoriello has made as common supervisor was in his first 12 months on the job in 2018, when he took Oliver Wahlstrom and Noah Dobson with the Eleventh and twelfth picks.
After taking Simon Holmstrom a 12 months later, the Islanders didn’t have a first-round choose once more till 2024, buying and selling picks in 4 straight seasons in offers that introduced again Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri, Alexander Romanov and Bo Horvat, respectively.
Whereas the Islanders did nothing to point a tanking posture of their first couple of video games after being formally eradicated from playoff competition, they did maintain Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock out of the lineup on Thursday, with Marcus Högberg beginning in internet over Ilya Sorokin.
Högberg, for a second straight sport, regarded out of his depth, stopping 20 of 26 pictures, although the protection in entrance of him left quite a bit to be desired.
The Islanders’ 35-35-12 file left them with 80 factors, their worst complete in an 82-game season since 2017-18, Garth Snow’s final as common supervisor.
Thursday was Kyle Palmieri’s 900th profession sport.
“It’s cool. That’s a lot of hockey in this league,” Palmieri stated. “It’s one of those things, you don’t take anything for granted. As you watch them pile up and find those milestones, it’s cool. Game 82 for us, it’s about leaving on a good note and being happy about the way we play tonight and finish as a team.”
Alexander Romanov was out with the identical sickness that stored him out of Tuesday’s loss to the Capitals.
