The Islanders’ task is simple: Beat Montreal. Just beat Montreal.

Do that Wednesday night and they will be in the playoffs, thanks to a gift from the Blackhawks, who beat the Penguins 5-2 on Tuesday night.

That undid the damage the Islanders did to their playoff hopes by losing Monday at Washington.

Now, once again, the Islanders control their own destiny.

Even an overtime loss on Wednesday at UBS Arena would be enough to clinch a playoff berth.

That’s because the Islanders, who have 91 points, own the tiebreaker over the Penguins, who are at 90 points.

Avoiding the Bruins in the first round would still require some help, because the Panthers are a point ahead of the Islanders as the first Eastern Conference wild card, and have the regulation wins tiebreaker.

After the Islanders fumbled the bag Monday, however, their current situation amounts to a second chance they cannot cough up.

Underneath a deep layer of disappointment in the Capital One Arena dressing room Monday night, the Islanders were hoping the Penguins would lose and —against the odds — that’s what they got.

“Hopefully we get a little help,” Zach Parise said Monday, “and win our game Wednesday and see what happens.”

Now, they must do their own part, which is far from guaranteed, given how the Islanders have played at times this season.

The Canadiens have long been out of the playoff chase and are playing only to keep their jobs next year.

But the Islanders have already dropped a point to Montreal this season, with a 4-3 overtime loss at the Bell Centre on Feb. 11.

If the Islanders had gotten that point, they would have clinched a playoff berth with the Penguins’ loss on Tuesday.

And, as they learned to their own potential detriment Monday, just because a team already has been eliminated doesn’t mean the Islanders can let up.

“Every night’s going to be tough,” Brock Nelson said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in or who’s out. … Five-on-five, everyone’s going to go out there and compete and not give you anything easy.”

The intensity on Wednesday, particularly early in the game, can’t be lacking in the same way it was Monday.

A regulation loss would mean hoping and praying for the Penguins to lose to a second straight team at the bottom of the standings when they finish their season at Columbus on Thursday.

That would probably be too much to reasonably ask for in a wild-card race in which just 92 points will be enough to get into the playoffs.

“The urgency’s always there for us,” Parise said. “I think that’s thrown around a little loosely. You can never convince me that we weren’t urgent and we weren’t ready to play. They just got a few early. I wouldn’t say that we didn’t have urgency. I don’t think that’s fair.”

Parise, though, was the only player who came close to defending the urgency level.

“Apparently not,” coach Lane Lambert said when asked if there had been enough intensity Monday. “We ended up in our own zone and we didn’t get the puck out. We have to deal with it, we have to move onto the next game. It was disappointing for sure.”

Monday was far from the first time this season in which a poor start cost the Islanders, just as it was far from the first time they dropped points to inferior opposition.

But now, they have a second chance.

The only option is to take it. Beat Montreal. Just beat Montreal.