Islanders at the break: Two points out of a playoff spot

Back-to-back home wins heading into this All-Star break/bye week — their only consecutive wins in January — could portend a playoff push for the Islanders. Or the dual victories might just be a tantalizing tease in a second straight season gone wrong.

The answer will be known for sure after their final 30 games.

At their best, as evidenced in Friday’s 2-0 win over the Red Wings and Saturday’s 2-1 overtime win over the Golden Knights, the Islanders take advantage of great goaltending and strong enough defense to be on the plus side of the goal-differential ledger.

But when the Islanders don’t play well — and some of those elements also were seen on Friday and Saturday — they don’t play fast enough, their power play is atrocious and their defensive zone play is lacking, both in terms of coverage and in breaking the puck out to start in transition.

The Islanders (25-22-5) went 4-8-3 in January and scored only 29 goals, including two or fewer in seven straight games and 12 of their last 13. Their power play is 0-for-25 in their last 10 games and 3-for-64 since Dec. 10.

The Islanders went into their eight-day vacation — they will resume their season in Philadelphia on Monday — in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, two points behind the Penguins for the final playoff spot. But both the Penguins and the ninth-place Sabres have played three fewer games.

“We’re not far behind, that’s the first thing,” coach Lane Lambert said when asked what fuels his optimism. “And the second thing is we went through a tough patch and we’re coming out of it. When we play the way we did [Friday] night and play the way we did [Saturday], we can have a lot of success.”

Per HockeyReference.com calculations, the Islanders have an 18.8% chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

Those odds should improve if the Islanders continue to get healthy. Their defensive game has improved with the return of Adam Pelech after his 21-game absence with a head injury. Defenseman Noah Dobson missed the last four games with a lower-body injury but is not expected to be out long term.

Right wing Kyle Palmieri missed 27 of 28 games but has five primary assists in his four games back in the lineup. His return has allowed Lambert to construct perhaps his most effective line of the season with Brock Nelson centering Anders Lee and Palmieri. Nelson and Lee scored a combined seven straight goals.

“It bleeds into everyone,” Lambert said. “When you’re watching a line out there and they’re playing the way they’re playing, you want to follow that up.”

Perhaps the addition of center Bo Horvat in Monday’s trade will help. Horvat, 27, the ninth overall pick in 2013, had 31 goals and 23 assists in 49 games for the Canucks, including 11 goals and seven assists on the power play. 

Lambert’s biggest task is finding suitable linemates for Mathew Barzal.

“It’s exciting to see that,” Barzal said of Nelson’s line. “I feel like a lot of the time this year, it’s been tough to find chemistry all around. For them to be going like that, it’s a big spark for our team. Hopefully we can get some lines just in concrete and go on a little run here. That’s what we’re looking to do.”

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.