The New York Islanders came up just short in their comeback attempt on Tuesday night, losing 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks at UBS Arena.
Anders Lee, Simon Holmstrom, and Cal Ritchie scored for the Islanders, but it wasn’t enough to match the offense from Nick Lardis (1G, 2A), Ilya Mikheyev, Tyler Bertuzzi (1G, 1A), and Frank Nazar (1G, 1A), as well as a stellar 44-save performance from Arvid Soderblom. David Rittich let in three goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Ilya Sorokin at the beginning of the second period. Sorokin made 11 saves in relief.
Despite falling behind 4-1 after allowing four consecutive goals, the Islanders fought back to narrow the deficit to 4-3, battling until the final buzzer.
“We were saying we could find three goals, we found two,” Lee remarked. “We had a bad few minutes, but that’s not going to deter us from giving our all to try to win.”
The loss on Tuesday had significant implications in the standings, with other games impacting the Islanders’ position.
The Ottawa Senators defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-2, allowing the Sens (85 points) to move ahead of the Red Wings (84 points) and the Islanders (85 points) into the second Wild Card spot, thanks to a game in hand on New York. The Columbus Blue Jackets overcame the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 after their 1-0 loss to the Isles on Sunday. Columbus (87 points) climbed to second place in the Metropolitan Division, while the Flyers (80 points) remained five points behind with two games in hand.
The Pittsburgh Penguins (86 points) slid to third place in the Metro following a 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. However, the Pens still have a game in hand over the Islanders. Lastly, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 at home to maintain third place in the Atlantic Division with 88 points.
