All Hope is Not Lost

Amid a 5 game losing streak, which could not have come at a worse time, all hope is not lost for the New York Islanders. With 26 games remaining in the regular season, I can promise you that other teams in this tight race will hit walls like the Isles did in the past week and the tide will change several times before it comes down to the wire in April.

The Isles face off against Tampa on Thursday and look to begin sneaking their way back into the middle of the traffic jam I like to call the Eastern Conference.


For the Isles to succeed they will need to start creating better scoring chances and will need players like Trent Hunter and John Tavares to start scoring again. Ideally, Brendan Witt will be back for Thursday's game and will add some much needed relief for McDonald and Kohn.

Lets not forget what we accomplished up until this point and the great teams we beat by wide margins in middle of January. 6-0 over Detroit, 4-0 over NJ and beating the Sabres. We won these games with hard work and determination. Its time to refocus and remember what this young team is made of.

Here is how the standings currently look in the Eastern Conference:


Standings
1 Washington Capitals 80
2 New Jersey Devils 72
3 Buffalo Sabres 71
4 Pittsburgh Penguins 71
5 Ottawa Senators 66
6 Philadelphia Flyers 59
7 New York Rangers 57
8 Florida Panthers 57
9 Atlanta Thrashers 56
10 Montréal Canadiens 56
11 Boston Bruins NE 55
12 Tampa Bay Lightning 55
13 New York Islanders 54

All hope is not lost, but hope doesn't win hockey games.