RALEIGH, N.C. — The Islanders’ last four games have been must-wins — and Jaroslav Halak has won them all.
Halak stopped 29 shots in his second shutout of the season, and the fast-starting Islanders beat the Hurricanes 3-0 on Thursday night.
Brock Nelson and Scott Mayfield scored early goals and Andrew Ladd added a power-play goal to help the Islanders earn their fourth straight victory and preserve their long-shot playoff hopes for a little while longer.
“Obviously, we’re in a tough situation where we have to rely on other things to happen outside of our games, but we’re a resilient group and we’ve fought out of a lot of stuff this year, and we’re not going to go down easy,” left winger Anders Lee said. “We’re going to give it our all and make sure we win these last [few] games. We were in a situation where we had to win out with six left. So we’re four wins into it.”
A loss to Carolina, and the Islanders would have been assured of missing the playoffs — just like the Hurricanes, who were eliminated two nights earlier.
Instead, the Maple Leafs’ 4-1 loss to the Lightning on Thursday moved the Islanders just three points back of Tampa Bay for the final wild-card spot in the East. Each team has two games left to play.
Halak won his fourth straight start since his recall from Bridgeport of the AHL, and his first shutout since blanking the Capitals on Dec. 1 — and 41st of his career — came in a must-win scenario for his team.
“I think the biggest factor, honestly, has been Jaro — Jaro’s been a rock back there for us,” Ladd said. “He’s been solid ever since he’s got back. … He gives us confidence in front of him to do the right things.”