No rest for the victors, as the Islanders return to Long Island to host the Florida Panthers after winning in Columbus last night. The Panthers are rested and might even be a little healthier, having lost at home to the Sabres on Friday night.
The two-time defending champs are 30-26-3 on the season and sit eight points behind the second wild card spot. Atlantic teams occupy both of those spots right now, so that’s really the only avenue they have to make a big climb back into it. If they miss the playoffs, they certainly wouldn’t be the first Cup champ to do so, but they’d have a little more grace considering how much hockey they’ve played and how many key injuries they’ve had for much of the season.
Amid that backdrop is the status of Sergei Bobrovsky, who’s having another mid-career-level Bobrovsky season rather than anything close to his Columbus and Panthers Cup-run peaks. His top-dollar contract certainly carried him through some highs and lows, so the Panthers are right not to want to rush into a premium extension for a guy who will be 38.
The Isles won’t concern themselves with any of that, of course. They’ll just want to have a better performance than the last two games, where they found ways to pull off 4-3 OT wins despite some shoddy play.