It’s New York, New York at the top of the Metropolitan Division.
And the Islanders, who moved into second place with a 4-3 overtime win on Monday over John Tavares and the Maple Leafs courtesy of Bo Horvat’s game-winner, are playing as well as any team in hockey.
It looked as though their repeated capitulations in the third period could derail the season, and the Islanders endured a seven-game losing streak through the first two weeks of November that prompted questions about the head coach’s job status.
Now they are reaping the reward with five wins in their last six and a 8-1-2 record since a shootout win in Calgary broke the losing streak.
That — along with the quality of opponents they’ve beaten lately, including the Kings and Maple Leafs this week — offers pretty strong evidence that this team might be for real.
So too does the confidence with which it is playing right now, up and down the roster.
The Islanders seem to be getting to every loose puck, winning every battle, skating to the crease with purpose. Rarely has that been more evident than Monday night, when the late-game issues again looked consigned to the past.
This would have been a storybook moment in which to capitulate, with the Islanders holding just a 3-2 lead and Tavares —still very much a villain around these parts — sitting on 999 career points.
That story seemed to come true at the 59:56 mark of the game, as Morgan Rielly finished off Tavares’ rebound to tie the game, give Tavares his 1,000th point and set off a chorus of boos inside UBS Arena.
Whether the boos were for the Islanders or Tavares is a question to which the answer was probably a yes. The announcement of Tavares’ 1,000th point on the scoreboard was met with raucous boos as Tavares gave a salute to his haters.
But the bad feelings did not last long as the Islanders won a second straight game in overtime as Horvat buried a breakaway.
For all of six minutes, the Islanders looked a step behind in this game. Robert Bortuzzo went off for slashing after breaking up a two-on-one started by a Samuel Bolduc turnover and Auston Matthews scored all-too-easily on the subsequent Toronto power play.
The rest of the opening period, though, was all Islanders — with the top-six buzzing around the crease and dominating possession of the puck. It was only a matter of time before someone broke through, and Brock Nelson did so with a one-timer past Ilya Samsonov at the 9:20 mark.
Casey Cizikas then roofed a backhander off Cal Clutterbuck’s feed at 18:33, capping another sustained run of Islanders pressure.
Kyle Palmieri then made it 3-1 just 1:10 into the second, beating out an icing call and then finishing off Nelson’s feed to the high slot.
Tavares — who else? — marked point No. 999 by deflecting Connor Timmins’ shot past Ilya Sorokin to make it 3-2 at 7:43 of the second, and the Leafs did follow that up with a bit of a push.
But the Islanders stayed calm and composed, keeping most shots to the outside and holding the lead into the third.
Of course, everybody in the building still knew to hold their breath when the Islanders entered the last 20 minutes with a lead. But for a third straight victory, the Islanders kept their level during the final period.
So far at least, this has not just been a week when the Islanders have hung around with the NHL’s big guns. They stunned the Kings with a resurgent third period on Saturday and plainly outplayed the Leafs on Monday.
The biggest test still awaits with the Bruins coming into UBS Arena on Friday night, and the Islanders need to deal with Anaheim on Wednesday before they start to think about that.
But right now, the Islanders are a team nobody should want to play.