SUMMERLIN, Nev. — The Senators did it. The Canadiens did it. The Crimson Wings are within the midst of doing it.
Why can’t the Islanders?
“I think if we’re gonna have a chance, we’re gonna need to win some [on a] streak,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau instructed The Publish. “Not only two in a row.”
Even two in a row — which the Islanders will go for Thursday in opposition to the Golden Knights — has been a tricky ask of the Isles up to now, with simply two cases of back-to-back victories this season, neither of which was adopted by a 3rd straight win.
Nonetheless, the state of the Jap Convention, the place the Fifteenth-place Islanders are by some means simply 5 factors out of the final playoff spot with a sport in hand over the current-occupant Blue Jackets, is such {that a} comparatively brief successful streak can shift a crew’s narrative utterly.
The Senators received six in a row in mid-December.
Montreal received six of seven to complete out 2024, and the Crimson Wings are at the moment on a five-game successful streak after changing coach Derek Lalonde with Todd McLellan.
Earlier this season, all appeared like they had been going nowhere, and all at the moment are very a lot within the playoff chase.
If there’s a case for the Islanders to show it round, that’s it.
On a relative scale — relative being the operative phrase — it’s not that unattainable.
“It’s close for a couple teams. You put a string together, you never know what can happen,” Scott Mayfield instructed The Publish. “I think of St. Louis [in 2019], end of January, start of February, they were in last place in the league or something. And they won a Stanley Cup that year. It can turn around, but you have to have that belief. You can put in the work, you have to have that belief. I know it’s in here, we just have to do it.”
Coach Patrick Roy mentioned Anthony Duclair — who’s performed seven video games since getting back from a suspected groin damage — nonetheless has “a little bit to get there” when it comes to returning to full effectiveness.
“I’m very comfortable with what I’ve seen so far,” Roy mentioned. “He’ll be fine. I’m not worried about him at all.”
The Islanders traces and pairs had been unchanged in follow from what they ran on Sunday in Boston.
Ilya Sorokin got here off the ice first, indicating a probable begin Thursday.
