Are the New York Islanders a true playoff threat?

Patrick Roy’s New York Islanders have won six straight games and have put themselves in a playoff position. Today on Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen discuss whether the Islanders are a true playoff threat and what awaits them in their last 19 games of the season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s talk about the playoff race in the East. A couple of weeks ago we were sitting there going “Boy the eight that are currently in are looking like the ones who will stick.” Then the Flyers pick up four wins in their last 10 games, the Detroit Red Wings have lost five in a row right as the New York Islanders rattle off six straight wins and now hold the final wild-card spot in the East. Teams like Washington and New Jersey are somewhat in the mix still but let’s start with the Islanders. They are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and a six-game heater. Colby, are you a believer that the islanders can keep this going for their final 19 regular season games? 

Colby Cohen: Well look, they’ve certainly played good hockey and when you watch the way they are back pressuring the puck and their defense are killing plays, it’s creating opportunities to not get hammered in the defensive zone. They’ve spent way less time in the defensive zone it seems like under head coach Patrick Roy, than the previous coaching regime, which gets the puck into Barzal’s hands, and Horvat’s hands, Nelson is scoring again.

Colby Cohen: I think the Islanders will continue to push and they’ve also got Ilya Sorokin who is one of the elite goalies in the NHL. They are on a West Coast road trip where they’ve had some inferior opponents where they played the Ducks, and the Sharks and they’ll play LA tonight. But, after this road trip their next eight games they’ve got the Rangers, Carolina, Detroit, Winnipeg, Tampa, Florida and Philly. So they’ve got a gauntlet of games after this road trip which is the same one that the Flyers have gone through and just beat the Panthers and then they get waxed by the lightning, so there’s give and take with these bottom wild card teams. I do think the Islanders are giving themselves a way to get into the playoffs.

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