The New York Islanders came up just short in a comeback attempt on Tuesday night, falling 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks at UBS Arena.
Anders Lee, Simon Holmstrom, and Cal Ritchie scored for the Islanders, but their efforts couldn’t match the offensive output from Nick Lardis (1 goal, 2 assists), Ilya Mikheyev, Tyler Bertuzzi (1 goal, 1 assist), and Frank Nazar (1 goal, 1 assist), along with a strong 44-save performance from Arvid Soderblom. Goalie David Rittich allowed three goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Ilya Sorokin in the second period. Sorokin made 11 saves in relief.
Even though they fell behind 4-1 after allowing four straight goals, the Islanders fought back to narrow the deficit to 4-3 before the final buzzer.
“We were saying we could find three goals, we found two,” Lee commented. “We had a bad few minutes, but that’s not going to stop us from doing whatever we can to try to win.”
The loss on Tuesday had a significant impact on the standings, as results from other games were mixed for the Islanders. The Ottawa Senators held off the Detroit Red Wings 3-2, pushing the Sens (85 points) ahead of both the Red Wings (84 points) and the Islanders (85 points) for the second Wild Card spot due to a game in hand on New York. Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ win over the Philadelphia Flyers moved them up to second place in the Metropolitan Division with 87 points, while the Flyers remained five points back with two games in hand.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, with 86 points, dropped to third in the Metro after a 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, but they still have a game in hand over the Islanders. Finally, the Montreal Canadiens secured a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, maintaining their third-place position in the Atlantic Division with 88 points.
