When the Islanders were blown out in St. Louis less than two weeks ago, their playoff math looked near hopeless, and so did the season.
Since then, they have chipped away and as they head West on a four-game road trip, there is new life in their playoff chances.
After taking revenge on the Blues in the form of a 4-2 win on Tuesday night, the Isles can now catch the Flyers and Lightning alike on games in hand, holding a four-point deficit with two fewer games.
The victory tied their longest winning streak of the season at four and marked the first time all year the Islanders had won three straight games in regulation.
That as much as anything highlights both how bleak things were and how much they are changing.
The Islanders needed to put together a run to make the playoffs.
They appear to be in the midst of doing just that.
The job is far from finished, but these are not fluke victories the Islanders are pulling out of a hat.
Tuesday was one they had to earn — and did.
After allowing the Blues to open a 2-0 lead at the game’s halfway point, the Isles fought back to tie it before the second intermission.
Kyle Palmieri continued his red-hot streak, taking Adam Pelech’s stretch pass and getting to the net with a power move to cut the lead in half at the 12:32 mark of the period.
Just over five minutes later, Jean-Gabriel Pageau banged in a loose puck after Sebastian Aho’s initial shot was blocked by Justin Faulk to make it two-all.
Within a minute of the third period starting, they would lead 3-2 as Bo Horvat — making up for earlier errors — beat Nick Leddy to his own rebound and wrapped it around to score.
And perhaps more transformative than the comeback itself is how the Islanders played while holding a lead over the game’s final 19:05.
As opposed to the modus operandi they’ve had for much of the season in those spots — which is to say turning the opponent into Patrick Mahomes — the Islanders defended hard, kept the Blues to the outside and looked for chances to attack.
It all made for a relatively drama-free one-goal win — a state that still feels jarring for a team that has spent most of the season living on the wrong side of the edge.
What suspense there was cut when Mat Barzal scored into an empty net with 30 seconds remaining.
The score was reflective of a game in which the Islanders kept their positive momentum in the eye test as much as the scoreboard, continuing to win puck battles, take most of the possession and run the shot count up.
The Islanders had the better of the first period, dominating possession and getting good chances, but couldn’t solve Blues netminder Joel Hofer.
Hofer had the better of them early in the second, too, particularly in saving a Simon Holmstrom chance that he thought was going into an open net after the goalie turned it over — then made a pad save while standing up.
It looked like it was going to be one of those nights after a pair of Horvat turnovers let the Blues take a two-goal lead — first with Alexey Toropchenko finishing a two-on-one break and then with Jordan Kyrou taking advantage of a giveaway right by the Islanders’ net and scoring.
Earlier in the season, it might well have been.
But right now, the Islanders are imbued with a different kind of belief and confidence, and it allowed them to fight through a losable game on Tuesday.
That is as good a sign as any dominant win.
