ANAHEIM, Calif. — For the first time in nearly two months, the Islanders will wake up on Monday morning in a playoff spot.
Two weeks ago after a home loss to the Lightning, the only apparent path to the postseason was for the Islanders to go on a winning streak as soon as possible. They have taken that quite literally, winning every game since — a run that reached six straight with a 6-1 victory over the Ducks on Sunday in which the Islanders never trailed.
They will look to complete their sweep through the Golden State on Monday night against the Kings and at this point, it is hard to bet against them.
“It’s good to win, but I don’t think that was our best effort tonight,” Cal Clutterbuck said, underscoring the transformation in self-evaluation that the Islanders have undergone since Patrick Roy took over as head coach. “I think we showed up in the third period and made sure we got it done. We were opportunistic in the first. I don’t think the second was very good. When we had our chance to put it away we did.”
An inconsistent team whose underlying stats looked worse than a not-so-impressive record for much of the season, the Islanders have suddenly transformed into a juggernaut. After their last loss, the Islanders were in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division, behind the Capitals and Devils. The closest playoff team to them was the Flyers, seven points up the road, with the Red Wings eight points ahead in the second wild-card spot.
After play ended Sunday, the Islanders were tied on points with the Red Wings and ahead in the standings thanks to playing two fewer games. They are just two points behind the Flyers and Lightning as well, with two games in hand on each.
What they did against Anaheim — and how they self-evaluated afterwards — illustrates the turnaround they’ve seen take place.
The Islanders didn’t live in the offensive zone, as they have in other games on this winning streak — in fact, they didn’t record a shot on goal for the first 13:38 of the second period — but they won decisive puck battles, passed it with precision and expertly finished.
Semyon Varlamov, who made his first start in six games, earned his first victory since Dec. 13 and made 22 saves behind a team that is balancing its own burgeoning confidence with belief there is more in the tank.
Simon Holmstrom created the opening goal 5:11 into the game, winning the puck off Gustav Lindstrom in the corner and feeding Casey Cizikas, who promptly beat Lukas Dostal. Just over two minutes later, Mike Reilly expertly threaded a stretch pass through the neutral zone for Kyle Palmieri, who backhanded the puck through the Anaheim netminder.
And then at the 14:28 mark of the period, after Mat Barzal won the puck along the boards on the power play, Brock Nelson and Bo Horvat completed a one-two passing sequence for a Nelson one-timer in the slot to make it 3-0.
The Islanders never quite looked in danger of letting up the lead from there, but they did play with their food a little too much in a second period that saw their game slip.
Alex Killorn cut the lead to 3-1 just 24 seconds into the second period with a goal off the rush and the Isles spent far too much of the middle frame content to sit back, recording just four shots at even strength.
“Varly made some good saves, we kept it at a two-goal game,” Roy said. “That made me very happy. Seeing them talking to you [media] guys, saying we need to be a little bit better in the second period makes me proud of them.
“That’s exactly what I want to see from our guys. Every day we try to be better. That’s a very good example.”
Any lingering worry ended in the third, when goals from Horvat, Pierre Engvall and Clutterbuck broke the game wide open, with the Isles putting in the sort of performance they’d lacked in the second.
And, style points or not, a win is a win and a six-game winning streak is a six-game winning streak.
The Islanders might not be satisfied yet. But it is hard not to be happy about that.
“It’s a long road,” Palmieri said. “I think, realistically, it’s better to be in that [playoff] spot than chasing one.”
