Is the Dreaded Post-Ranger Letdown a thing of the past?

The Isles will close out the home season on Tuesday when they host the Florida Panthers.  (When the Panthers lost on Saturday, it guaranteed that the Isles would finish ahead of Florida -- they need to guarantee that against six other teams to make the playoffs.)

It will be interesting (and imperative) to see if the Isles can avoid the Post-Ranger Letdown that has plagued them over the years. With an Islander win over Florida, they would guarantee that they get to Winnipeg on Saturday ahead of the Jets in the overall standings.  The Isles currently own a three-point lead over the Jets, but since Winnipeg already has two more ROWs than the Isles the Islanders (in all likelihood) will lose a tie-breaker against the Jets.

Now, about that letdown: the Isles are 94-112-37 in the next regular season game that follow a game against the Rangers.

This year, however the Isles are 2-1 in those games and could easily be 3-0. 

After losing to the Rangers at MSG on February 7th, the Isles outshot Buffalo 43-15 but lost 3-2.

After winning in SO at the Garden on February 14th, the Isles crushed the Devils 5-1.

After losing in OT at the Coliseum on March 7th, the Isles beat Washington 5-2.

All-time under Jack Capuano, the Isles are 5-7-2 in the "post-Ranger" game.

It will be the 40th regular season home finale at the Coliseum.  All-time the Isles are 22-11-6 in the final home game of the regular season.  They will be looking for a second straight finale win, having defeated Winnipeg last season; the Isles are 1-0-2 in the Tavares era in home finales.  Between 1978 and 1994, the Isles went 14-1-2 in home finales, but they are looking to win back-to-back home finales for the first time since 1997 and 1998.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick