BUFFALO — As each minute ticked away last night at the First Niagara Center, the Islanders’ future was looking more and more black and gold.
Yet, the frightening Penguins team that dons those colors is not a guaranteed matchup now for the upstart Islanders, who clawed their way back from some sloppy play and earned a point in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Sabres.
“I told them after the game that they deserve this opportunity to move forward,” said coach Jack Capuano, whose team finishes the regular season with a 24-17-7 record and at least temporarily holds on to sixth place in the conference. “The past is the past. We’ll get some rest here and move forward. It’s an exciting time for the guys.”
If the Islanders had lost in regulation, they would have been locked into the eighth seed and set to meet the juggernaut Penguins, who ran away with the conference even in the face of key injuries now healed. And that is still a very real possibility, mostly because of Thursday’s 2-1 clunker of a loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia that kept the Islanders from at least somewhat controlling their own destiny.
Now they have to rely on the Rangers losing in regulation today against the Devils, as well as the Senators not gaining a point in their final two games to remain the sixth seed and draw the Southeast-winning Capitals. If the seven seed, they would face whoever wins the Northeast, either the Bruins or the Canadiens.
“This will be the first time in a while I’ll be scoreboard-watching trying to figure out who we’re going to play,” Capuano said, “because there is be a lot of work to be done.”
For most of last night, the Islanders struggled to generate a lot of offense and were down 1-0 early in the second after a Brian Flynn goal.
“It was one of the worst first 20 [minutes] we had in a while,” said Keith Aucoin, who tied it 7:26 into the third when goalie Ryan Miller, in his 500th career game and possibly his last as a Sabre, misplayed the puck badly off the backboards. “We battled in the third and now have to regroup. It’s a new season.”
So although the opponent is not set, the Islanders can begin to focus solely on making the most of the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2007, now so close they can touch it.
“Everything is going to be quicker, more physical, more edgy,” said veteran goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who made 21 saves and was beaten in the skills competition only by Thomas Vanek in the first round. “We have to be ready for that, because it’s going to be a hard, hard series, no matter who it’s going to be.”
***NHL commissioner Gary Bettman chimed in with his opinion on the possibility of the Islanders moving to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center early, before their lease expires after the 2014-15 season.
“I’d like to see them in the newer building as soon as possible,” Bettman told reporters at the Associated Press Sports Editors commissioners meeting in New York. “But I believe the Islanders — not believe, I know — they’re prepared to fulfill their obligations under their burdensome lease. If Nassau County was inclined to let them go earlier I know they would go.”