Carolina, which will finish first in the Eastern Conference, will play the Ottawa Senators, who will finish as the second wild card, in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Bo Horvat scored his 300th career goal for the Islanders (43-34-5), who lost seven of their final eight games of the season (1-7-0). David Rittich made 19 saves.
“You have to use it as fuel. It's been a long time since I've been in a situation where I had to coach a game like that which didn't mean anything,” New York coach Pete DeBoer said. “Those are not easy games to play in or coach in, playing out the string. I'll tell you what I told our group. I really thought the last 10 days, their attention to detail ... they worked on the things we asked them to work out. We didn't get the results we wanted, but I really thought that their hearts were in the right place, and hopefully we put in some building blocks that are going to help us next September, October, but we have a lot of work to do.”
Ehlers gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 3:05 of the first period, breaking down the right wing and beating Rittich blocker side from the circle.
Bussi kept it a one-goal game at 6:37, stopping Calum Ritchie twice with his left pad before stretching out his blocker to deny Matthew Schaefer from the low slot.
Rittich then returned the favor by stopping Jackson Blake on a breakaway at 15:31 of the first to keep the Islanders down just 1-0.
Horvat tied it 1-1 during a delayed penalty at 13:14 of the second period, scoring on a one-timer from the low slot off a pass from Mathew Barzal. Victor Eklund, who was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League earlier in the day, had the secondary assist in his NHL debut.
“I had the best time of my life,” said Eklund, who had two shots on goal and two hits in 15:30 of ice time. “It was so much fun. Obviously, a really good league, the hardest out there, and I think it went pretty well.”
Tony DeAngelo had a chance to give the Islanders the lead at 16:50 of the second, but Bussi sprawled out with his left pad and was able to cover up the puck in the crease.
Jankowski put Carolina in front 2-1 at 14:38 of the third period. He curled out unchecked into the bottom of the right circle and roofed a shot short side over the glove of Rittich.
“Overall, I thought it was a good game,” Jankowski said. “It was tight. Everyone who came up played great. Awesome for Seeley and Felix to get their first ones, and yeah, overall, it's just a great win. And now, onto the playoffs.”
