The Islanders will play with a chance to move into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference on Saturday afternoon against the Lightning. But may have to do it without Bo Horvat.
Here is a sentence that was not supposed to be true this season: The Islanders will play with a chance to move into a tie for first place in the Metropolitan Division on Saturday afternoon.
Actually, no, make that: The Islanders will play with a chance to move into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference on Saturday afternoon against the Lightning.
That was the good news for the home side at UBS Arena on Thursday as the Islanders beat Anaheim 5-2.
The bad news is that they may well do so without their leading scorer after Bo Horvat left the game with an apparent injury to his left leg in the second period and did not return, with the Islanders calling it a lower-body injury.
With the Capitals and Hurricanes playing each other at the same time, the Islanders were guaranteed to be tied for second in both the division and the conference on points — though potentially behind due to games in hand — as long as they won.
That did not come without a brief scare.
Though the Islanders held a 3-0 lead after one period that was whittled down to 3-1 at the second intermission, Troy Terry’s shorthanded goal put Anaheim within one just 2:37 into the third.
