Islanders Strengthen Wild-Card Lead By Routing Maple Leafs

Good morning and happy Wednesday, March 22nd.

Yesterday's poll participants were pretty evenly mixed, with 55% of voters predicting the Pittsburgh Penguins will extend their playoff streak to 17. Sitting one point back with a game in hand on Florida, the Penguins control their destiny at this point.

In other news, the NHL announced a 10-year agreement with Fanatics to produce official on-ice uniforms beginning in 2024-25, replacing Adidas. Considering this will be the first time the Fanatics logo will appear on game uniforms in professional sports, the internet had a field day...

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a Top 10 NHL scoring team and the New York Islanders are a team that often struggles to score.

But Tuesday night the teams reversed roles as Cal Clutterbuck contributed two goals and an assist to power the Islanders to a much-needed 7-2 rout against the Maple Leafs.

One negative for the Islanders: forward Brock Nelson left late in the first period after being checked into the boards by Noel Acciari. There was no update about his condition after the game.

With the win, the Islanders moved three points ahead of the Florida Panthers for the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers helped the Islanders by falling to the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Islanders, ranked 22nd in NHL scoring, have found enough goals down the stretch to take and hold the lead in the wild card race. They netted 17 goals in their current three-game winning streak. Thanks to consistent goaltending, the Islanders gave up a total of six goals in those three victories. Over the past 12 games, the Islanders surrendered two or fewer goals seven times.

The Islanders are now 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, while the Pittsburgh Penguins, a wild card race favorite, has gone 4-5-1 in their last 10. The Penguins have lost four in a row.

New York have thrived down the stretch, even though top offensive threat Mathew Barzal is out of the lineup with injury. 

GM Lou Lamoriello bolstered the Islanders’ offense by trading for Bo Horvat and Pierre Engvall.

Tuesday’s Islanders’ win was Lamoriello’s 1,400th of his NHL career as a general manager. David Poile is the only other GM with 1,400 or more regular-season managerial wins. Lamoriello has 188 wins with the Islanders, 118 with the Toronto Maple Leafs and 1,093 with the New Jersey Devils.

🥇 Alex Ovechkin scores his 40th for record setting 13th time, Caps fall to Blue Jackets 7-6 in OT. It wasn't the prettiest goal of Ovi's illustrious career, as his attempted pass to Conor Sheary was deflected in by Blue Jackets' defenseman Nick Blankenburg, but he broke a Wayne Gretzky record in the process nonetheless. And how about the fact that at 37-years-old, Ovechkin has 40 goals in just 66 games this year?! Unfortunately, his record breaking efforts weren't enough as the Caps blew a 5-3 lead headed into the 3rd as Columbus' Boone Jenner tied the game at 6-6 with 47 seconds left in regulation before Jack Roslovic scored in overtime for the 7-6 Blue Jackets win.

💯 Carolina Hurricanes hit century mark for 3rd time in franchise history, end Rangers streak at 4 games. The Metropolitan-leading Carolina Hurricanes found themselves in a top spot, down 1-0 to the New York Rangers who entered the game on a tear, winning their past 4 games by a cumulative 22-5 score and earning points in their last 7. But the Hurricanes did what the Hurricanes do, mounting their league-leading 10th third period comeback (tied with Vancouver & Vegas) thanks to goals from Jalen Chatfield, Stefan Noesen, and Teuvo Teravainen to earn the 3-2 win. Frederik Andersen stood tall, stopping 29 of 31 shots against, as Carolina collected their 100th point in 69 games, the fastest the Hurricanes have reached the century mark in team history.

We know Alex Ovechkin (13) just passed Wayne Gretzky (12) for the most 40-goal seasons in NHL history. But what two players are tied for 3rd with ten 40-goal seasons?

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Mario Lemieux and Marcel Dionne are tied for the 3rd most 40-goal seasons in NHL history, each hitting the 40-goal mark 10 times in their careers.