NEW YORK (AP) After climbing back into the playoff race with nearly unbeatable play at home the last month, the New York Islanders will need to quickly find a way to win on the road to preserve their postseason hopes.
Just a month ago, the Islanders were in last place in the conference. Now, they sit just two points behind Boston for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. The turnaround has been keyed by a 9-0-2 record in their last 11 at Barclays Center – their longest points streak on home ice since 1982.
”We’ve somehow just got comfortable and we’ve gotten into a rhythm (at home),” forward Ryan Strome said. ”We’ve got to try to obviously take that to the road if we want to make the playoffs.”
The Islanders have seven wins on the road, tied with Carolina and Dallas for the fewest in the league, and they play 17 of their final 24 games away from home. They’ll get that started with a franchise-record stretch of nine straight road games over a 19-day span due to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Atlantic Coast Conference men’s college basketball tournament at Barclays Center.
”I think it’s good for us. We’ve been home a lot this year,” forward Andrew Ladd said. ”To get the opportunity to go out on the road and spend some time together, it’s not a bad thing. We obviously have to figure out a way to win on the road and be more consistent.”
The strong play at home followed the coaching change on Jan. 17, when assistant Doug Weight was promoted on an interim basis to replace the fired Jack Capuano, who led the Islanders to their first postseason series win in 23 years last April. They were 17-17-8 and in last place in the East, eight games back of a playoff spot, at the time of the change.
The Islanders’ latest win – 6-4 against New Jersey on Sunday – pushed their overall mark to 10-4-2 since.
Weight said he planned to make some adjustments to the team’s routine during the upcoming road swing, including altering video and scouting sessions ahead of games. There also could be some line combination changes during games.
”We got to change things,” Weight said. ”We don’t have a good feeling, not a good vibe on the road right now. … We’ve been (home) a lot and we’ve been great (at home) and it’s been a crutch. Hopefully, we can get on the road and get together as a team and start to be that good road team that I believe we can be.”
The stretch of road games will be broken into two trips. The Islanders begin a three-game, five-day trip at Detroit on Tuesday night. After facing Columbus on Saturday, they’ll return home for several days before visiting the Stars on March 2 to start a six-game, 10-day trip.
”It’s a lot of big games in a short period of time,” forward Casey Cizikas said. ”We got to be ready and just take it one game at a time but know the importance of each game. … We got to play a full 60 (minutes). We can’t come out with flat starts.”
Last season, the Islanders won six of seven on a trip around the same time on the calendar, and that helped lead them to a second straight playoff appearance. They’ll need similar success to boost their chances to make it three years in a row.
The Islanders don’t return to Brooklyn until they host the Hurricanes on March 13. They are still far short of the 30-game home point streak set 35 years ago – in the midst of their run of four straight Stanley Cup titles. That stretch – which came before teams earned a point for losses in overtime and when there weren’t shootouts to decide ties after the extra period – included a 21-0-2 mark to end the 1981-82 season and a 7-0-0 start to the 1982-83 campaign.
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Follow Vin Cherwoo at www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP
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