Shitty effort vs the Wild, but they get an OT win. Local boys getting 2 huge goals: Lee with the Isles first PP goal since the Paleolithic Age, and Nelson with the OT winner. The refs were awful. The Isles took a bunch of penalties and the Wild were allowed to get away with a ton of hacking. But then the Wild had a goal taken away due to interference (it was). Lee was called for interference the other way, while he was skating backwards and Stalock was 3-4' outside his crease. Just a strange game all around. But the Isles got 2 points. And Eberle got his first goal in 5 weeks, so hopefully that gets him rolling.
Scary moment when Barzal was on a breakaway, trying to settle a bouncing puck. He looked down and Stalock came out to poke check it (successfully) and Barzal went up and over him, hitting the goal post with his neck, taking the goal to the end boards, and just laying there holding his head, face down for a few seconds. He was fine, but had a huge red mark and raspberry on his neck. Miss18.1 got the joke of the day when she said "now there are TWO Hickeys on the team!" Well played kid.
So, they are tied for first with the Caps, and the Penguins blew a 1-0 lead, giving up the tying goal with 18.8 seconds to go in regulation and the game winner to the Flyers with 4 seconds to go. Isles are 3 points ahead of the Pens, with the game in hand.
10 games left for the Isles, and their playoff magic number is 11. The playoff scenarios will likely go to the wire, as the Isles last game is vs the Caps. Seems really odd to have 2 games vs Western Conference teams in the last 10, but this is the NHL.
3/19 vs Boston
3/21 @ Montreal
3/23 @ Philly 1 PM
3/24 vs Arizona 3 PM (2 extra hours of rest in the back-to-back with travel may help.
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3/26 @ Clumbus
3/28 @ Jets
3/30 vs Buffalo
4/1 vs Leafs
4/4 @ Panthers
4/6 @ Caps