This is what despair looks like.
It took pushing them to the brink, it took a coaching change and it didn’t hurt that they played a Maple Leafs roster that resembled an AHL team.
Whatever caveats you want to throw at this, the Islanders are finally playing as a team with their backs against the wall, and that’s just what they are.
That helped lead to their 5-3 win over Toronto in Pete DeBoer’s first appearance behind the bench, the first of four victories deemed absolutely necessary over the final four games of this season for the Islanders to make the playoffs.
Since the Islanders started the game 15 minutes before Thursday’s playoff, the picture was still not clear when the game ended.
Suffice it to say, though, that Saturday’s home game against the Senators — the club that began the 3-7-0 collapse that led to the firing of Patrick Roy and the club the Islanders are chasing for the second wild-card spot — is do-or-die.
If the Islanders can continue their effort from Thursday into the weekend, they should like their chances.
They threw pucks on net early and often, holding Carolina to a 24-3 lead in shots on net after just 20 minutes.
It broke out quickly and decisively. They played with speed, purpose, and, yes, an urgency that had been missing for too long.
Brayden Schenn and JG Pageau both scored within five minutes, and when the Leafs fought back to equalize, the Islanders didn’t panic at all.
They stuck to their game, kept tilting the ice, and by the second intermission, they were up by two goals again.
Schaefer’s goal that made it 3-2 at 9:39 of the second marked his 23rd goal of the season, tying Brian Leetch’s record for defensemen, and was also Schaefer’s first goal in seven games.
This wasn’t a night where Schaefer or Ilya Sorokin or anyone else had the Islanders on their backs.
Just as Saturday’s game at Carolina was down to all 20 skaters, so was the dominance with which the Islanders operated on Thursday.
Ondrej Palat had his best game in a uniform despite missing a brief period in the third period after blocking a shot from Troy Stecher. Max Shabanov was consistently noticeable on the relentless third line with JJ Pageau and Emil Heinemann.
Matt Barzal’s return to center was smooth. Simon Holmstrom looked like he played the entire season at No. 1.
Tony DeAngelo is back after missing six games with a lower-body injury and you can’t help but credit some of the ease with which the Islanders were able to get the puck up the ice at No. 77.
The power play produced a goal when Barzal passed Heinemann in the slot to make it 4-2 at 18:55 of the second.
Cale Ritchie, at his best when playing in the tight space in front of the net, did just that to score the Islanders’ opening goal on a pass to Brayden Schenn, then did it again to score a five-on-three goal that extended the lead to 5-2 in the third.
The shoot-first mentality, something the Islanders have often failed to achieve against inexperienced goaltenders over the years, proved too much for Artur Akhtyamov to handle in his first career start.
Given the terrible play the Leafs played against him, the rookie was passable, but clearly tired.
Ironically, the only Islander who was below par was the one who more often than not kept his team in the fight this year. Ilya Sorokin needed Scheffer — who was as good defensively Thursday as he was offensively — to clear a puck off the goal line early in the game when Easton Cowan’s shot went through him, then gave up a goal on the first official shot on net he saw, Steven Lorentz scoring from the bottom left dot.
It was the first of two shaky goals allowed that night, the second scored by Morgan Rielly off Barzal’s stick in front. That cut the score to 5-3 late in the third period, but the Leafs never really looked like they were there.
It was as good a 60 minutes as the Islanders have done together in some time, and they did it at the right time.