TORONTO — If the Islanders are going to put together a run over the next nine weeks to get into the playoffs, Monday was a pretty good start. 

Patrick Roy has said it’s playoff hockey from here on out for the Islanders and it certainly looked that way in a 3-2 win over the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena, with the Isles sealing a sweep in the season series and gaining two vital points on a wild-card rival on the back of Pierre Engvall’s game-winner late in regulation. 

The Islanders now sit four points back of Toronto and Detroit in the wild-card race and just two points behind the Flyers for third in the Metropolitan Division.

The race, in other words, is on. 

Just as important, the adjustment to Roy’s system looks to be going swimmingly.

After a week off, the Islanders returned to put in a clean performance on the road, getting on the cycle frequently and holding the puck for long periods of time against a high-powered Maple Leafs squad. 

It was how they defended when the Maple Leafs did the same, though, that was especially notable. 

For much of the season when the ice has been tilted against them, the Islanders have settled to chip-and-change, playing to see another day and giving up the puck.

Here, they looked for chances to attack and rarely iced the puck even when the Maple Leafs were putting on shot after shot. 

That mindset helped them take a 2-1 lead into the final period following an onslaught from Toronto late in the second. 

So, too, did the excellent play of Ilya Sorokin, who finished the night with 34 saves and a victory that he very much earned. 

It looked as though Toronto’s moment had come with 5:40 to go in the game when Oliver Wahlstrom was whistled for interference — a script that felt all too familiar with the Islanders hanging onto a one-goal lead. 

That script indeed started to play out, with John Tavares deflecting Morgan Rielly’s shot from the right point to tie the game. 

But the Islanders flipped it right back the other way in short order. 

It was Engvall — in his first game back in Toronto since being traded 11 months ago — who got on Brock Nelson’s rebound with 2:02 left in the game to net his first goal since Dec. 9 and the game-winner. 

For a player whose season has not gone according to plan, and for a team whose season has not gone according to plan, that goal was very much necessary. 

And both Engvall and the Islanders will hope it can help get things back on track. 

A major boost also came in the form of Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock returning to the lineup and playing together on the second pair, marking the first time the Islanders have had a healthy defense corps start a game since Nov. 24 in Ottawa, when Pelech and Sebastian Aho went down early in the night. 

Combined with two points in the standings, it made for a night where everything seemed to fall into place for a team that has rarely seen that happen this season. 

Mathew Barzal got the Islanders on the board first at 10:31 of the first when he netted Mike Reilly’s rebound to score on the same ice on which he skated over the weekend in the All-Star Game.

That was only fitting. 

The lead was given away when Mitch Marner scored at four-on-four 50 seconds into the second period, beating Sorokin up high off a faceoff.

But the Islanders got it right back at the expiration of the same penalty that Marner’s goal followed, with Kyle MacLean bursting out of the penalty box and sliding a backhand around Ilya Samsonov. 

That marked MacLean’s first NHL point, one he was able to celebrate with his dad, John, who is still behind the bench as an assistant coach.

It came on a night where the Islanders notched their first road win under Roy as they pulled back to .500 (2-2-1) since the coaching change. 

It was a result that represented the night well.

And a result that was very much needed.