It felt as if the future of a handful of New York Islanders veterans hinged on the result of tonight's home contest against the NHL leading Winnipeg Jets -- particularly after the 4-0 loss at Madison Square Garden 24-hours ago.
In the last game before the trade deadline the Islanders needed to rebound and tonight’s win vaulted them momentarily to three points of a playoff spot.
The Jets got their first chance when Ryan Pulock got called for holding Mason Appleton with 9:49 into the first period, however the Isles killed the power play after Ilya Sorokin made a series of splendid saves.
With five minutes remaining in the first, Anders Lee And Adam Lowry dropped the gloves.
Then Nino Niederreiter got called for tripping and Kyle Palmieri made the Jets pay -- scoring his 20th goal of the season, a power play goal with 3:11 remaining in the first to give the Isles a 1-0 lead.
The first period closed with the Islanders dominating the last ten minutes, while leading on the scoreboard 1-0 and 17-10 in shots.
In the second, only 1:33 in, Brock Nelson found Max Tsyplakov, who found Nelson again to score his 20th goal of the season.
With 12:04 remaining, Lee took a high sticking penalty, giving the Jets their chance to get back into the contest. And they took full advantage.
A shot from the point by Josh Morrissey found its way through a packed slot and deflected off of Simon Holmstrom's leg and behind Sorokin, making the score 2-1.
With 3:40 left in the second, Appleton was called for holding Scott Mayfield and the Islanders could not convert, leaving them 1-for-2 on the night with the extra skater.
After two period the Islanders held a slight edge in shots 24-23.
In the third the Islanders came out hungry and 4:03 in, Ryan Pulock ripped a shot from the point that s deflected off of two Jets in-front and went past Connor Hellebuyck to give the Islanders a 3-1 lead.
With 8:37 left J.G. Pageau was called for slashing and Nicolaj Ehlers scored a power play goal to cut the Islase lead to 3-2 with 7:09 remaining.
With 1:34 left the Jets pulled Hellebuyck and had several scoring chances but Sorokin stood tall stopping 28 of 30 shots.
The win keeps the Islanders in the thick of the playoff race heading into Friday's deadline. They return to the ice Saturday at 10 PM in San Jose.