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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
First off, apologies for not publishing a newsletter on Tuesday. Work Holiday Party Season (yes, on a Monday) is my excuse. Forgive me.
Last night’s loss against the Kings, now winners of six in a row, felt different. Yes, it took the Isles a while to find their game. Yes, they played a poor first period, and even fell behind 2-0, but rather than the game getting away from them, they got better as the game went on and worked hard to give themselves a chance.
It wasn’t a lackadaisical effort. They pressed hard for the game-tying goal in the final 20 minutes. The Kings don’t give you much time and space and know how to close out games. Still the Isles’ prolonged push included hitting two posts in the third period, with their best chance coming from Bo Horvat.
With their next two games coming against Chicago, there was an opportunity to make a modest two game winning streak four or five. Instead, their back under NHL .500 rather than being able to pull up the standings and see them with more points than the Rangers, Lightning and Flyers. It was a turn the page type of a loss. The one’s you are going to have each season, but one that looms larger because of how many winnable games they let slip away earlier in the year.
