No one was saying it explicitly ahead of Saturday's first game of a home-and-home series against the Penguins, but winning this set of games, or at least avoiding a sweep, is just as imperative. As the Islanders have faced all season.
The Islanders have been hovering on the fringes of playoff contention in recent weeks, too far away to be a real factor, but close enough that a three-game winning streak could theoretically push them past the cut line. .
But what if they lost both games to the Penguins?
Now, Pittsburgh entered Saturday with a four-point lead over the Islanders and one point behind Ottawa, who occupied the final playoff spot.
You can try to do the math on what would have happened if the Islanders had lost two four-point games.
We won't know until Sunday's game in Pittsburgh if they can do more than stall the race.
But the Islanders at least ensured they stayed in the race with a 6-3 win over the Penguins in back-to-back home games.
It didn't happen that easily after a 4-1 lead turned to 4-3 entering the third. The Islanders looked like they were in real danger of losing another game in the season that they should have.
The game seemed to be heading towards fireworks in either direction.
But while the Islanders had not quietly taken the lead over the past month, they did not abandon the habits that plagued them in October and November.
Instead, they shut down the match, maintained the physical play they had maintained all along, and turned the match into a low-event slug.
The game featured a number of previously injured Islanders stars, with Anthony Duclair scoring and Mathieu Barzal getting his first 5-on-5 points of the season with a beautiful first-half assist to Jean-Gabriel Pageau. It can also be seen as a sign that he is finally showing his true colors. .
But a more accurate way to do that would be with a lot of intensity and edge that was missing for much of the season.
It was no surprise that Casey Cizikas, who has defined the team's level of competition for the past decade, clinched the victory with a goal off a rush with 5:17 left in the game. This was his second goal after the end of the game. Max Tsyplakov was promoted to Bo Horvath's line in the second period after the latter scored back-to-back penalties in the offensive zone.
Cizikas has had a difficult start to the year, but these two goals double his points total this season.
For the Islanders, Anders Lee's empty net was confirmation and a much-needed result.
Over the first four minutes of the second half, Duclair, Lee and Cizikas scored goals, seemingly breaking a 1-1 tie.
But Noel Acciari scored just 13 seconds after Pittsburgh's power play ended, followed by Rickard Rakell's tip off Matt Grzelcyk's shot with four seconds left in the second period to pull Pittsburgh back within 4-3. Ta.
After Brock Nelson's potential go-ahead goal was canceled out due to goaltender interference 4:59 into the game, the Islanders responded well and had an early start that didn't exist five days ago. They applied pressure and suffered an embarrassing 7-1 loss. To the Sabers.
It worked, as Barzal made a backdoor feed to Pageau that put the Islanders ahead at the 14:47 mark, giving No. 13 his first 5-on-5 point of the season. The beauty at that time was spectacular.
However, that lead quickly dissipated after a Cizikas penalty for interference, and Michael Bunting scored on the ensuing Pittsburgh power play.
Even if they did score two points, the lack of progress on special teams (the power play went scoreless and they struggled to get into the zone at times) makes me think this is more of a mirage than a real foundation. That's the reason.
Of course, the Islanders are in a position to celebrate after only picking up two points, and I'd like to hope they don't.
