RED HOT ‘CANES DESTROY ISLANDERS

Some ‘also ran’ teams take pride in playing the ‘spoiler’ role, hoping to validate a losing season by showing heart and toughness down the stretch.  And then there’s teams like the New York Islanders, who hold the NHL’s worst record and are just playing out the string having lost seven of ten games.  A miserable season on Long Island hit a new low on Tuesday night as the Islanders were mauled by the host Carolina Hurricanes losing 9-0 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, have been the hottest team in the league of late and picked a good time to do it with the playoffs right around the corner.  Tuesday’s win was the team’s 9^th straight, setting a franchise record for longest winning streak.  Goalie Cam Ward won his 39^th game of the year—another franchise record—and tied another club best with his sixth shutout of the season.  The victory was also Carolina’s 12^th straight at home, extending another all time best mark.

The Islanders made history of the wrong kind, with the 9-0 victory representing the worst defeat in team history.  While they may not have the lengthy history of one of the ‘original six’ NHL teams having entered the league in 1972 as an expansion team along with the Atlanta Flames (who now reside in Calgary) that’s still 36 years.  The team’s worst defeat prior to this was an 8-0 loss at St. Louis in 1988.  Islanders’ coach Scott Gordon didn’t even bother trying to come up with a credible explanation for his team’s miserable play:

"It was just one of those nights when it seemed nothing was going in the right direction.”

The Islanders goaltending tandem of Joey MacDonald and Yann Danis deserve credit for not turning on their teammates, if nothing else.  A mutiny would be justified in light of Carolina’s lopsided 57-12 shots on goal advantage.  Considering the barrage of pucks that they faced, and considering how little help they had from their teammates, the Islanders’ goaltenders did well keeping the ‘canes goal total to single digits.

In the other locker room, Erik Staal celebrated the victory:

"We're playing the right way. We're playing at a high, competitive level, and we're playing like a well-oiled machine. When you're confident and when you're doing the right things, you're going to get good results and nights like tonight."

Winning goalie Cam Ward stressed the importance of keeping the team’s momentum going into the playoffs:

"It's great, but the most important thing is that we're playing some good hockey right now. We want to be peaking when we go into the playoffs, and now with two games left, it's important that we bear down and have a similar effort like we did tonight. But I thought the veteran guys were exceptional to get everybody prepared. ... We definitely came to the rink ready to play."

Carolina will conclude the regular season by hosting Buffalo on Thursday and playing at New Jersey on Saturday.  The Islanders have three more games to suffer through, all against playoff bound teams.  They’ll hit the road to play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night, before hosting the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday and the Boston Bruins on Sunday.