Islanders Come Together in Second Half to Clinch Playoff Berth

The New York Islanders needed all 82 games to clinch a berth in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, punching their ticket to the dance after a
4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens
at UBS Arena on Wednesday.
It was a long road for the Islanders, one filled with twists and turns, potholes, and a couple of replacement tires. The check engine light came on at some point, but when the regular season was said and done, the Islanders arrived at their first, though not final, destination, the postseason.

"I think it's pretty gratifying," Head Coach Lane Lambert said of making the playoffs. "It's the first step, but it's a very difficult step. It's a step the required 82 games. It doesn't always require the full 82, but for us it did. There's a lot of things that go on, whether injuries or wherever you have to come through and fight through. Our group, from top to bottom, the staff, everybody did a great job of grinding through it and finding a way to get to where we are right now."
The Islanders qualified for the playoffs with 93 points and as of Thursday morning, they are in the first wild card spot, one point up on the Florida Panthers (92 points). If the Panthers lose on Thursday night, the Islanders will play the Metropolitan Division leading Carolina Hurricanes. If the Panthers win, the Isles will take on the Boston Bruins. They'll be considered underdogs either way, but that's a position of power for this group, who overcame a lot of adversity just to be in a playoff position.

"Ever since the all-star break we made a commitment to putting ourselves in a position to have the opportunity that we had tonight and we did that," Anders Lee said. "The guys put in a lot of work, and we played extremely hard. We've got our foot in the door, a seat at the table and let's take a day here, see what happens and go from there."
That commitment stemmed from a meeting in late January, which a few Isles pinpointed as the turning point in their season. The Islanders were 23-22-5 on Jan. 26, sixth in the Metropolitan Division and 22nd in the league in terms of points percentage. January was especially tough, with a 2-8-3 record and an offense averaging fewer than two goals per game.
"We had meetings back in January where we weren't maybe in a great spot," said Brock Nelson, who led the Isles with a career-high 75 points. "We were probably counted out by some people, and everyone's stuck with it through adversity. There are injuries and different things, but we found a way."
There were two games on the schedule heading into the break, back-to-back home games against Detroit and Vegas. They beat Detroit 2-0 behind a 23-save shutout from Ilya Sorokin and topped Vegas 2-1 the next night, thanks to a 45-save effort from Semyon Varlamov. Lee (2G), Nelson and Mathew Barzal, who Lambert utilized as a line at times during late-game pushes early in the season, accounted for the goals.
"You could sense that going into that break it was huge to have those two wins," said Noah Dobson. "If you lose those two you are kind of down in the dumps and it's tough to enjoy yourself. So those two wins were huge, where we were able to relax, clear our minds and come back refreshed and also those two games vs Pittsburgh as well."

By the time they came back from the all-star break they had a rejuvenated sense of self -
and a new acquisition in Bo Horvat
, who helped the Islanders maintain their strength down the middle when injuries started piling up.
Starting on Jan. 27, the Islanders rattled off a 19-9-4 stretch. Sorokin went 16-6-3 with a 2.20 GAA, a .928 SV% and three shutouts over that span. Nelson led the team with 32 points (18G, 14A) in 32 games, but it was very much done by committee. Twelve different Islanders recorded a game-winning goal over that span, including Pierre Engvall, who was acquired from Toronto at the trade deadline, rookies Samuel Bolduc and Simon Holmstrom, veterans like Cal Clutterbuck, as well as usual scoring suspects in Lee and Kyle Palmieri.
The committee approach was deemed necessary, as the Islanders dealt with a rotating IR list for much of the year. Here's a sampling.
Palmieri missed 27 of 28 games from late November to late January - and became the Isles second leading scorer from Jan. 27 onward.
Adam Pelech missed 21 straight games from Dec. 9 to Jan. 21. He played over 20 minutes in 30 of the Isles final 34 games of the season, including 26:41 in the pivotal Vegas win.
Cal Clutterbuck missed 20 games from Jan. 21 to Mar. 9.
Oliver Wahlstrom suffered a season-ending injury on Dec. 27.
JG Pageau missed a month from Feb. 14 to Mar. 11.
Mathew Barzal was injured on Feb. 18 and has been out since.
Players stepped up in their absences. Seven different Islanders - Bolduc, William Dufour, Arnaud Durandeau, Holmstrom, (the since traded) Aatu Raty and Parker Wotherspoon all made their NHL debuts. Hudson Fasching carved out an NHL job - and scored 10 goals - after spending most of the past six years in the American Hockey League. Defenseman Sebastian Aho played more games this season (71) than in the last five years combined. Zach Parise became the first Islanders player 38 years or older to score over 20 goals in a season. He also played all 82 games.

Parise said there are other moments in addition to the two wins heading into the break that helped turn things around for the Islanders. He looks at the first game after the Barzal injury, when the Islanders staged their second third period comeback in four days against the rival Penguins. The Isles went 4-0-0 against Pittsburgh this season - their first season sweep over the Pens in franchise history - and if even one of those games goes the other way, maybe the Penguins are in the playoffs for a 17th straight year and the Isles are on the outside looking in.
"I almost feel as if we potentially got written off a little bit when Barzy went down," Parise said. "We rallied and we put together a pretty good record from then on to put ourselves in this spot. I'm sure you could point to a lot of different times in the season that got us here, but here we are."
The Islanders were 14-7-2 after the Barzal injury, coming together with structured hockey to account for the absence of a dynamic player. The Isles 2.30 goals against per game over that span ranks second in the NHL, behind only Boston.
"Our structure has been better," Lee said. "Our defensive and neutral zone work has been better and given our goalies cleaner shots to see and save and that's been a huge part of it."
There are wins and points that look even more important in hindsight in helping the Islanders get to the postseason. They had 19 comeback wins during the regular season, including nine in third periods.
They rallied out of a 3-0 hole
against the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 29 and erased a pair of two-goal
third period deficits against Calgary
and the
Rangers in early November
. Think about how bitter a 5-4 OT loss to Columbus felt three weeks ago and how important the third period rally to get that one point wound up being. It took six tries to win a shootout, but the extra point acquired vs Washington on Mar. 29 was a massive one.

It was not an easy road and yes, the Chicago Blackhawks did them a big solid on Tuesday night by upsetting the Penguins, but it was a season-long effort for the Islanders, who have been playing meaningful games for some time.
It's almost impossible to replicate playoff hockey, but the Isles have experienced something close. And while the slate gets wiped clean when the first round starts, Lambert and co are hoping that the long hard road to get to the starting line will help when the real thing gets underway.
"I think it gives you a little bit of a feel for where you're heading and what it's going to be like," Lambert said. "I think it can pay dividends. We fought through a lot of diversity at different times this year, but again, I can't say enough about our players and what they've accomplished to this point."