For the second straight night, the Islanders’ playoff chances were on the ropes.
And for the second straight night, they did what was necessary to produce two points, even if it came in underwhelming and ugly fashion, beating the Blackhawks 2-1 to keep their playoff hopes alive and well.
For 40 minutes, it looked like the Islanders were going to suffer a 10th loss out of 10 games this season on the second end of a back-to-back.
Their energy was lacking, and they could not seem to generate scoring chances on Petr Mrazek even on shifts where they held the puck in the offensive zone.
Frustration was such that after an ugly second period, the Islanders were booed off the ice by the home crowd, having struggled to mount any kind of a push after Jason Dickinson’s first-period goal had given the Blackhawks a lead.
Failing to come through in the third period would not have mathematically ended their playoff chances, but it would have made a run at the wild card a pipe dream at best.
The Islanders knew it and so did everyone else.
Their chance at some momentum came early, when Philipp Kurashev went off for holding, and the Islanders jumped on it.
With new-look power play units following a messy run at five-on-four, Bo Horvat finished off Mat Barzal’s backhand feed from behind the net to tie the game.
Then at the 9:25 mark, Simon Holmstrom put the Islanders ahead, throwing the puck on net from the low slot, watching it escape through the pads of Mrazek and getting enveloped in hugs.
The Blackhawks would get a chance to tie when Mike Reilly was called for holding just a few minutes after Holmstrom’s goal.
But the Islanders’ penalty kill, their kryptonite for much of the season, came up big and stopped Chicago from even recording a shot on goal over the two minutes.
Unlike Monday, there was no five-on-six nightmare coming.
The Islanders closed this one without drama, to the sound of cheers.
Finally, the Islanders had swept a back-to-back.
Not a moment too soon. And not with a care in the world for style points.