Nobody throws a party for NHL-.500.
But the Islanders may be feeling high after a day that started with good news and ended with a victory.
A healthy team appears to be on the horizon, with Matt Barzal, Anthony Duclair and Adam Pelech all participating in the morning skate for the first time since their injuries.
They have their sights set on the play-off cut line and are currently one point behind struggling Rangers with a game still in hand, with both teams on 31 points.
The goal is to treadmill until healthy, and after defeating the Blackhawks 5-4 on Thursday at UBS Arena, the Islanders have won three of their last four games and are the definition of treadmill in the NHL. It's back to -0.500. And a group of injured star players are also close to returning.
That's as good a spot as the Islanders have been all season.
They looked like they were some distance away from being Cup contenders, and the score didn't reflect that, but Thursday night's performance didn't really take off until the third period.
However, the current standings certainly suggest that the Islanders are close to becoming a playoff team with just a few more players, and they seem to be getting closer to having those players return.
Either way, any concerns about a slow start should be dispelled by the way the Isles closed out the game with a great third period.
After Patrick Roy adjusted the line in the second period by placing Bo Horvat between Anders Lee and Pierre Engvall and Max Tsyplakov returned to the skates of Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, the Isles took control of the game. He showed calmness.
Second-period long-range goals by Dennis Cholowski and Simon Holmstrom (the first of which came seconds after the power play ended) gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead with 20 minutes remaining.
That scenario is all too familiar to Islanders, but not in a good way.
However, the third period demon did not come out on Thursday. In fact, it's the opposite.
The Islanders quickly built a lead when Noah Dobson took advantage of a rush after Nelson took the puck off the wall at the 5:39 mark.
Fifty-seven seconds later, Bo Horvat scored off a rush to nearly end the game.
To emphasize the point a little more, less than two minutes after Horvat's goal, Tsiplakov picked up a loose puck in front of him to make it 5-1. As a result, Chicago replaced goaltender Arvid Soderblom with Drew Commeso.
It was a welcome change of pace after a stressful third period, even in a game where the Islanders hung on. TJ Brody's three goals and Tyler Bertuzzi's two late goals were consolation prizes and kept the score close. it was.
After struggling through the first 30 minutes of Tuesday's loss to the Kings, the Islanders started the game slowly again, conceding zone time throughout the first period.
It was also the first time the Isles, who have allowed at least one goal in five of their last six games, went on a penalty kill, scoring when Connor Bedard danced past three defenders after Palmieri failed to clear the puck. .
The home team were booed in the dressing room after the first 20 minutes and looked like an inferior team throughout the game.
Something needed to be done, and while it didn't light up on the scoreboard, the Islanders came up with one that was good enough to check the most important box of the night.
By the end of the night, the booing fans were singing karaoke to “Piano Man” and applauding the Islanders when the buzzer sounded.
They've been watching this team struggle all month.
Maybe it's time to start swimming.
