OTTAWA, Ontario — Such is the frenetic pace of the playoff race right now that the Islanders only needed to slip up once to get themselves into trouble.
Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Senators later, the Islanders were in danger of falling out of third place — and potentially a playoff spot altogether — contingent on results that would come in mere minutes later in Columbus and Detroit.
That the defeat came on Brady Tkachuk’s winner with 11 seconds left in regulation only added to the hurt.
The Blue Jackets and Red Wings, both of whom looked in good shape to get points as the buzzer sounded in Ottawa, both were in position to pass the Islanders with wins.
That would amount to a major shock to the system for an Isles team that has been in a playoff spot every day since Dec. 4.
That’s the cruel nature of the race right now, and this was a particularly cruel night for the Islanders.
They temporarily lost Anthony Duclair to injury in the second period after the winger caught Tyler Kleven’s blast on his right knee, and on a night where they didn’t seem to have much in the tank, the Islanders scratched and clawed their way to a 2-1 lead early in the third period anyway.
Brayden Schenn broke a 1-1 tie just 2:02 into the last period, taking an outlet pass off the rush and executing a perfect give-and-go with Simon Holmstrom to score for a second straight game, handing the Islanders the lead.
Of course, that was not the end of it.
Warren Foegele re-tied the game off Fabian Zetterlund’s rebound that left Ilya Sorokin unable to cover his right post in time just over three minutes later.
Sorokin more than made up for it by the end of the night, coming up with a 10-bell save on Michael Amadio off the rush late in the third, which required the puck to be cleared off the line by Ondrej Palat for good measure.
Again, the Islanders looked completely on their heels — 19 minutes into the third, Schenn’s goal was their only shot on goal of the entire period.
It looked like the Isles would at least get the game to overtime, when Jordan Spence’s floater from the right point was knocked in by Brady Tkachuk with 11.1 seconds left on the clock, handing Ottawa a 3-2 lead and leaving the Islanders with a gut-punch loss.