Last January, as the Isles were going through a pretty good stretch from the end of Dec. into January, I made note of the record in the division, and the upcoming division games:
3-10-3 in Division, 15-12-4 out of division:
So the recent success is nice, but we’re looking at a stretch for the rest of January which starts with 4 straight and 7 of 9 within the Metropolitan Division. If things don’t change in regards to the division record, this will be end of the Isles slim playoff hopes. If they can turn it around, maybe, just maybe, we can start thinking about a playoff push. Either way, by the end of January, we’ll know.
Of course, things did not go well and the Isles were out of playoff consideration shortly after I made that post. In fact, the Islanders record in their own division has been pretty terrible for the last few years, and you simply can’t be a good team if you can’t beat the teams in your own division, especially now with the way playoff positions are determined. When you think about teams the Isles haven’t been able to beat consistently over the last few years, it’s a who’s who of the Metropolitan Division, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Rangers, Carolina, Washington, etc. The reality last year was that no matter how good the team looked playing outside the division, inevitably there’d be a road trip to Columbus, Pittsburgh, Washington and Carolina, and the Isles would find themselves on a losing streak.
As of Jan 30, the 2014–2015 Islanders are 16-2 against Metro Division foes.
That’s how you become a successful team!
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