The Islanders hope to be fighting for a playoff spot next year, but in the meantime, they’re trying to make the best of what’s left of this season.
And for now, that includes throwing a monkey wrench into the playoff hopes of some of their opponents.
That continues tonight, when the Isles visit Carolina (7:00, MSG+2, WMJC), a team currently in the postseason mix.
“Those games are fun,” Kyle Okposo said yesterday after practice. “All the pressure’s on them. They need wins to get into the playoffs and it’s great going into an arena knowing that’s the situation especially on the road.”
Of course, when you’re playing the spoiler, it means you haven’t done much on your own, but Okposo and his teammates, who battled inexperience and injury much of the season and have played markedly better of late, are staying upbeat.
“We are trying to finish on a positive note and feel good about ourselves at the end of the season, so that maybe we can be on the other side of these games next year,” Mark Streit said. “Most teams right now are in the race or already preparing for the playoffs. We can learn from them.”
The Isles have had to do a lot of that after falling out of playoff contention early, a fate they would like to avoid next season.
“You realize in this league that things can turn around pretty quick,” Streit said. “You get some young prospects, draft picks and free agents and at the end of the next year, you could be a whole different team.”
In order to find success a year from now, however, more wins this season against teams such as the Hurricanes would help.
As long as the effort stays the same as it has been through most of the second half, though, Scott Gordon will be satisfied.
“It says a lot about the approach we’ve had,” the Isles coach said. “At this time of year, you can have the mindset that, ‘I can’t wait till the season’s over.’ That’s not the case here. It’s almost like our record doesn’t exist.”
If only the Isles were so lucky.