Good Morning, Islanders Country.
“Playing with house money” is supposed to feel liberating. It’s the idea that you’ve already won, already beaten the odds, already turned something small into something meaningful — and now, whatever comes next is a bonus.
You take a few more chances. You loosen your grip. You play freer, bolder, like there’s to lose because, in a way, there isn’t.
For a long stretch of this Islanders season, that’s exactly what it felt like. They weren’t supposed to be here, not really. It was supposed to be a transition, a retool, a year spent figuring things out. And instead, they overachieved. They hung around. They collected points. They built belief. That’s house money. That’s the sweet spot where pressure fades, and possibility grows.
But then came the pivot.
