Tavares Shootout Winner Gives Isles Key 2 Points

 photo courtesy of http://cdn1-www.hockeysfuture.com/

This afternoon, the Islanders defeated the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 5-4 in a shootout.  Here are some of my notes:

-Yet another solid game from the Nielsen line!!  An argument can certainly be made that they have carried us more then the Tavares line has, especially during the latest stretch.

-Not Nabby's best game today!  Sure he kept us in the game which is what you want, but this was Nabbys weakest game in a while.

-First line was underwhelming yet again!  Thought after the big offensive night from them the other night that it may have gotten them some momentum but it doesn't look like it did.  Hopefully, they can find themselves against Carolina.

-Special teams was a big difference in the game today.  Although the powerplay did seem to get better as the game went on, can't afford to put up 0's on the powerplay in key games like today.

-Nice to see the team getting a lot of secondary scoring!  For years we begged to have secondary production beyond the Tavares line.  Well, now we have it and look where we are.

Well, there were a lot of nerves coming into this one amongst fans even given the teams unbelievable play recently.  This was a hard fought physical game, but with the two points gained today the team moved into temporary possession of 6th place and a tie for 5th place.  Further, they lowered their magic number to 3 to clinch a playoff spot.  So with a Jets loss Monday and a win or overtime loss Tuesday playoff hockey will officially be returning to Uniondale.  This team is incredible right now and instead of fandom being work like it had been in the last 5+ years its fun again and man is it great!

Next Game: Tuesday @ Carolina (Could possibly clinch a playoff spot with a victory)

EASTERN	DIV	GP	W	L	OT	P	ROW	GF	GA	DIFF	HOME	AWAY	S/O	L10	STREAK
1	Y - PITTSBURGH	ATL	44	34	10	0	68	31	150	108	+42	17-5-0	17-5-0	3-0	8-2-0	WON 6
2	X - MONTRÉAL	NE	44	27	12	5	59	24	138	115	+23	14-6-3	13-6-2	3-2	5-5-0	WON 1
3	* - WASHINGTON	SE	44	24	18	2	50	21	135	122	+13	13-8-0	11-10-2	3-0	8-1-1	LOST 1
4	X - BOSTON	NE	43	26	12	5	57	22	120	97	+23	14-4-3	12-8-2	4-3	5-4-1	LOST 1
5	TORONTO	NE	44	24	15	5	53	24	134	123	+11	13-8-2	11-7-3	0-5	6-3-1	LOST 2
6	NY ISLANDERS	ATL	45	24	16	5	53	20	134	131	+3	10-11-3	14-5-2	4-1	8-0-2	WON 3
7	OTTAWA	NE	43	23	14	6	52	19	107	92	+15	15-3-3	8-11-3	4-4	5-5-0	WON 4
8	NY RANGERS	ATL	44	23	17	4	50	19	116	105	+11	14-6-2	9-11-2	4-4	7-2-1	WON 2
9	WINNIPEG	SE	45	23	19	3	49	21	121	134	-13	13-9-1	10-10-2	2-3	5-4-1	OT 1
10	NEW JERSEY	ATL	44	17	17	10	44	15	105	117	-12	11-9-2	6-8-8	2-7	2-6-2	WON 2
11	BUFFALO	NE	45	19	20	6	44	13	118	138	-20	10-9-3	9-11-3	6-4	6-4-0	LOST 1
12	PHILADELPHIA	ATL	44	19	22	3	41	18	119	134	-15	13-7-2	6-15-1	1-2	5-5-0	LOST 1
13	TAMPA BAY	SE	44	17	23	4	38	16	138	138	E	11-8-2	6-15-2	1-3	2-5-3	LOST 1
14	CAROLINA	SE	43	17	23	3	37	17	112	138	-26	8-13-0	9-10-3	0-1	1-8-1	OT 1
15	FLORIDA	SE	44	13	25	6	32	10	104	159	-55	7-10-5	6-15-1	3-1	4-6-0	LOST 5

photo courtesy of http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm#?navid=nav-stn-main