EAST MEADOW Jason Pominville Jersey Kids , N.Y. (AP) After missing the playoffs for the second straight year, and eighth time in the last 11, the New York Islanders head into the offseason with much work to be done.The most important task is signing captain John Tavares, who is set to be a free agent this summer.Tavares has said all along he hopes to be back with the only franchise he’s played for, but doesn’t know what will happen. However, with the season having ended less than 48 hours ago, he needs to take a breather first.”Take some time to not even think about hockey for a few days,” Tavares said Monday. ”And then prepare for the offseason and training, and obviously the contract will come up here as well.”Tavares, 27, just wrapped up the final year of a six-year, $33 million contract, and would be the top free agent available July 1. The face of the Islanders since they selected him No. 1 overall in the 2009 draft, Tavares had 37 goals and 47 assists this season, finishing a goal and an assist shy of the career highs he set in 2014-15.”This is where I hope to be and I’ve stated that,” he said. ”Just have to take some time and figure out what I want to do.”Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky and general manager Garth Snow have both repeatedly said they want Tavares to return Womens Johan Larsson Jersey , and Snow reiterated that Monday.”We want to be in a situation where he has the Stanley Cup in his hand, wearing an Islanders jersey, and we want him to retire as an Islander,” Snow said.Ledecky read a statement in which he declined to address the futures of any player, or the statuses of Snow and coach Doug Weight, saying the team was ”committed to long-term success,” and defined that as ”competing every year for the Stanley Cup and eventually winning a fifth ring.”He added: ”For the past season, as owners we have failed. We sincerely apologize to our fans. We want to express that our ownership group is totally committed to winning and providing the resources to do just that.”The Islanders finished 35-37-10 despite getting off to a strong start in which they won 15 of their first 24 games.However, injuries to defensemen Calvin de Haan and Johnny Boychuk started them on a tailspin in which they lost 30 of their final 45 games (15-24-6).There were some bright spots, led by Mathew Barzal’s 22 goals and 63 assists that make him the leading candidate for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie. Also, Anders Lee had the franchise’s first 40-goal season since Jason Blake in 2006-07, and Josh Bailey had career bests of 18 goals and 53 assists.Some other things to know as the Islanders head into the offseason:IMPROVING THE DEFENSEFinding a way to improve the defense needs to be the second priority this summer – after retaining Tavares. The Islanders finished eighth in the league in scoring with 261 goals, but gave up a league-worst 293. They were also last in shots allowed and penalty-killing,Nick Leddy had an unseemly minus-42 rating, the league’s worst since Pittsburgh’s Rico Fata (minus-46) in 2003-04. Calvin de Haan was lost for the season in December and is also set to be free agent. On the bright side, Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech Authentic Justin Bailey Jersey , both 23, established themselves as solid young defensemen.THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHTBarzal and Anthony Beauvillier, both 20, formed a solid second line with Jordan Eberle, 27, combining for 180 points to complement the top line of Lee-Tavares-Bailey (217).Eberle had 25 goals and 34 assists in his first season in New York, and Beauvillier had a breakout second season in the NHL with 21 goals and 15 assists.WHO’S IN GOAL?Thomas Greiss is the only goalie signed for next season, with Jaroslav Halak set to be an unrestricted free agent. Greiss dealt with an injury down the stretch and finished 13-8-2 with one shutout and a 3.82 goals-against average.Halak was 20-26-6 with a shutout and a 3.16 GAA in the final season of a four-year deal. The 32-year-old had a solid first season, going 38-17-4 with a 2.43 GAA in 2014-15, but totaled just 50 wins the last three years.SNOW’S JOBWith the Islanders having made the playoffs just four times in 12 years since Snow was hired as the GM, he was asked if he deserved to stay on the job.”Yeah,” he said. ”When I took over this position it was a situation where it was an all-out rebuild. … Now we’re in a situation where we feel we can compete for a Stanley Cup.”You can go through the lineup and have a pretty common theme of successful stories of where we’ve built through the draft. And I think our prospect pool at this point in time is impressive as well.”HOME AND HOMEThe team’s struggles this season were punctuated by losses at Barclays Center, where they were 59-26-16 since moving to the Brooklyn arena before the 2015-16 season.However, they lost 15 of their final 22 games there to finish with a losing record on home ice for the first time since 2013-14.Now, the Islanders will be splitting home games between Barclays Center and the Nassau Coliseum – their former home – for at least the next three seasons until a new arena is built at Belmont Park.—-Follow Vin Cherwoo at wwwtwitter.com/VinCherwooAP— VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Anders Nilsson finally had his hard work rewarded with a victory.Loui Eriksson scored his second goal of the night late in the third period and Nilsson stopped 44 shots to pick up his first win in 2 1/2 months as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Boston Bruins 6-1 Saturday night.Nilsson was 0-7-0 in his last 11 appearances Kyle Okposo Jersey , including nine starts, since beating Nashville on Nov. 30.Article continues below ...”I feel like I’m getting back to my game a little bit,” the 27-year-old Swede said. ”Even though the results haven’t been going my way, or the team’s way, I’m feeling like my game has slowly been getting back to the way it should be and the way when I play my best.”It feels great to be able to contribute to two points.”Nilsson started the season strong with four wins in his first five starts, including shutouts over Ottawa and Minnesota. Since December, however, he has struggled. His win against the Bruins improved his record to 7-10-1.Jacob Markstrom was scheduled to start against the Bruins after Nilsson played in a 4-1 loss to San Jose on Thursday night. Nilsson learned after the morning skate that Markstrom was sick and he’d be starting instead.”It was plenty of time to get prepared,” he said. ”I still had the whole day. I just prepared the way I normally do.”Daniel Sedin, Sven Baertschi, Nic Dowd and Bo Horvat also scored for Vancouver, which scored four goals in the first to take control. It gave the Canucks just their second win in eight games.Vancouver was outshot 45-23 but got some timely saves from Nilsson.Tim Schaller scored in the third period for the Bruins, who lost in regulation for just the third time in 27 games. Tuukka Rask started and gave up four goals on eight shots in the first period. Anton Khudobin came on to start the second and finished with 13 saves.”I look at the goals and they got there,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. ”They wanted to get there, and we didn’t prevent them from getting there.”We got sloppy at times and we paid the price.”Nilsson made a couple of big saves early, including getting a pad on Danton Heinen’s shot off a rebound during a first-period Boston power play. In the third http://www.officialsabres.com/authentic … nen-jersey , he robbed Schaller and Sean Kuraly on back-to-back plays.Nilsson also got a little lucky as the Bruins hit three posts in the first 20 minutes.”We played a pretty good game, but we have to be honest, we got some bounces,” Nilsson said. ”It was nice to see us get an early lead and maybe control the game.The Canucks were outshot 18-9 in the first period but led 4-0.Eriksson opened the scoring two minutes into the game. Rask gave up a big rebound off Alex Edler’s shot, and Sedin took a swipe at the puck before it rolled to Eriksson, who whacked it into the net.The Canucks went ahead 2-0 at 10:54 on a pretty play from Thomas Vanek. He skated down the middle the ice then feathered a pass through the legs of Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo to Sedin, who was alone at the side of the net.Horvat made it 3-0 just 56 seconds later as he took a pass from Troy Stecher, skated around defenseman Charlie McAvoy, and put a shot over Rask’s glove. Nilsson earned an assist on the goal.The Canucks made it 4-0 on a strange play. Rask stopped a shot from Baertschi and Boston’s Noel Acciari tried to clear the rebound, but the puck hit Kuraly’s stick and went into the net.”We hung our goalies out to dry,” the Bruins’ David Backes said. ”Then you are climbing uphill the rest of the games.”Dowd scored the only goal of the second period to make it 5-0. Jake Virtanen cut across the front of the net and took a shot that Khudobin stopped but Dowd put in the rebound for his second at 2:44.NOTES: Canucks D Ben Hutton was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game and the ninth time in the last 25. … Baertschi returned to the Canucks’ lineup after sitting out Vancouver’s 4-1 loss to San Jose on Thursday. … Louie DeBrusk, the father of Boston rookie forward Jake DeBrusk, worked between the benches as a color analyst for the first time in a game his son played.UP NEXTBruins: At Calgary on Tuesday night in the second of a five-game trip.Canucks: Host Colorado on Tuesday night.