This is becoming the norm for the New York Islanders.
For a third-straight season, they are overcoming an alarming stretch of play in the first half which should doom their playoff hopes, only to piece something together in the New Year and claw their way back into the postseason conversation.
A 5-2 win over the high-powered Colorado Avalanche extended the Islanders’ season-high winning streak to five games, which in turn got them out of the last-place cellar in the Metropolitan Division.
With 51 points, they now sit just four points out of the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference — though five teams sit between them and the Tampa Bay Lightning, who possess that last playoff berth. Still, the Islanders have played fewer games than each of those five teams between them and Tampa, including two fewer than the Philadelphia Flyers and one fewer than the cross-town rival Rangers, who are both one point ahead.
As luck would have it, the Islanders’ next two games come against the Flyers on Thursday and the Lightning on Saturday.
“I’m not thinking about what’s going to happen after the Philly game,” head coach Patrick Roy said. “I’m focusing on, ‘OK, this is our next opponent. We need to be ready for the Flyers.’ Then we’ll get ready for the next one and the next one. I learned a lot from last year in a way that, how many times did I come back here last year and everbody was telling me that we were going to miss the playoffs? I think it happened maybe 10 times where it was ‘your season is over.’
“No. Just play games. Focus on that one game at a time and see where we are. We’ll go from there. Now, we’re playing some really good hockey.”
They have been able to do this with a patchwork blue line that had been decimated by injuries. Mike Reilly, Noah Dobson, and Ryan Pulock are on some form of injured reserve, forcing the Islanders to sign and give sizable minutes to Tony DeAngelo and Scott Perunovich.
While their defense has not been lock-tight as it had been earlier this decade, the goaltending has stepped up when called upon. New York has allowed two or fewer goals in each of their previous five games.
Ilya Sorokin has looked like his former Vezina Trophy-caliber self, stopping 85 of 89 shots over his last four outings, good for a .955 save percentage.
In turn, the offense has stepped up significantly, recording three or more goals in each of their last six games. They have not had a streak that long since a six-game stretch between Feb. 26 and March 10 last season.
“This stretch we’ve gotten to our brand of hockey and we’ve executed that well,” captain Anders Lee said. “It feels natural and it’s come together these last 10 or so.”
