The Islanders cheered at the start of Monday’s practice and gave a mock ovation as both goaltenders and a small group of players joined the rest of the team on the ice at the Northwell Health Ice Center.
Ilya Sorokin raised his glove in a mock salute.
The entire roster did stick taps.
This is a team that is coming to the end of a difficult season.
The Islanders made a coaching change in January.
They lost more than they won.
And they have lost a disproportionate number of dramatic and emotional games in the final minutes.
It carries some weight.
It feels pretty, pretty good to finally have some confidence coming off a four-game winning streak that gave them a two-point lead for third place in the Metropolitan Division as of Monday morning with five games left in the season. .
“I think this is what it feels like when you’re winning,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau told the Post. “We’re in a good position and we have a good opportunity to continue moving up the standings and stay in the playoffs. … We keep winning games, we keep playing the same way, we keep playing the full 60 minutes. That’s what we do. I think it’s the mindset, it’s been working well lately. So obviously the atmosphere is pretty good right now.”
At the same time, the islanders are never safe.
A loss in the first of New York’s two-game series against the Rangers this Tuesday would have a huge impact on both teams, but it would feel just as bad as a four-game win would feel good.
After Pittsburgh lost in overtime to the Maple Leafs on Monday night, the Islanders continued to lead five competing teams, including Pittsburgh, Detroit, Washington and Philadelphia, with 85 points.
However, no player has fewer than 83 wins, and the Islanders’ 26 regulation wins are the fewest of the five.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are fighting for their first Presidents Trophy and No. 1 overall seed since 2015, with a three-point cushion over the Bruins and both teams with four games remaining.
This isn’t just a matter of pride, but of avoiding the Lightning in the first round in a rematch of the 2022 conference finals, which Tampa Bay won in six games.
The Blueshirts won both of the first two games between the teams, first in a close 6-5 overtime game at MetLife where the Islanders took a 4-1 lead before collapsing in the third period. They then won a rather unmemorable 5-2 win. The win at the Garden never looked like the Islanders were going to be competitive.
“In the game we lost in overtime, I thought it would have gone faster,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “We moved the puck faster, we played faster and we were up north. Compared to the last game where we had a few turnovers. … If we want to be successful against them, we have to move the puck well. There is. We need to move the puck north and we need to keep the game very simple.”
There is nothing about this winning streak that indicates superiority on the Islanders’ side.
They made fewer mistakes, defended hard, continued their consistent efforts and got great goaltending from Semyon Varlamov in goal Tuesday night following his 41-save shutout against Nashville.
The joke after the 2-0 win over the Predators was that the Islanders played some Barry Trotz hockey in Game 3 to cut the lead, but they allowed 20 shots and 8 in the period. It’s hard to imagine Trotz being excited about allowing a dangerous chance that was spent almost exclusively in the defensive zone.
Still, the grind has been taken up a notch.
The atmosphere is the same.
“I have more energy, more confidence,” Matt Martin told the Post. “It also leads to us playing better hockey. It’s natural to try to take advantage of this and hang on as long as we can.”
The Islanders want to see an X next to their name in the standings.
