The Modern NHL is about Hidden Points, Costing Islanders

(Via Islanders.nhl.com)

For the second time in a week on home ice, the Islanders found themselves on the short end of a 2-1 score line.  The Rangers did it on Tuesday night, and last night, the Ottawa Senators held off the Islanders’ by the same score line.

If you look at the standings, you will note that the suddenly reeling Islanders find themselves in second place, but just two points ahead of the Penguins for third place and the Pens have three (3) games at hand.

Looking at these standings is like a course in calculus – ROW, SOW, SOL, OTL, W, L, etc. etc.   And as much as a fan would like to just focus on the old Ws and Ls, all of these other letters have hidden value.

Last season, the New Jersey Devils missed the playoffs for one reason and one reason only – shootouts. They lost a staggering 13 times in shootouts while winning ZERO games in that fashion.   That’s thirteen (13) missed points and the Devils missed the playoffs by 5.  This season, while a playoff berth is fairly certain for the Isles, this season, there is one slot on the standings that is costing the Islanders with regards to playoff positioning – overtime.

The last two losses were both in regulation which means a drop of at least two (2) valuable points.  While the Islanders have an NHL-best 43 wins (tied with two other teams) they are also tied for the lease overtime losses.  While that sounds like a good thing it really isn’t.

The Islanders have lost 23 times on the season, 19 of those in regulation which means at-least 19 points were left on the table.

If the Islanders could have even managed to take a quarter of those games to OT, they would be sitting on 94 or 95 points and would be holding a 3 – 4 point lead in the division.  The more you know.