ELMONT, N.Y. — It was a struggle, just like this whole season has been for the Islanders.
But the Islanders managed to clinch an Eastern Conference wild-card spot in their regular-season finale with a 4-2 win over the out-of-contention but determined Canadiens in a playoff-like atmosphere at sold-out UBS Arena on Wednesday night.
Not until Anders Lee’s power-play goal at 16:01 of the third period could the crowd start to celebrate, chanting “We want playoffs.”
Now the Islanders must wait until Thursday night to find out if they play the NHL-best Bruins or the Hurricanes in the first round.
The Islanders (42-31-9) have 93 points and currently hold the first wild-card spot. But the Panthers, who have 92 points going into their season finale, host the Hurricanes. If the Panthers win, they would face the Metropolitan Division winner — which could either be the Hurricanes or Devils — in the first round. If the Panthers lose in overtime or a shootout, the Islanders would own the second tiebreaker of regulation and overtime wins against them.
Ilya Sorokin, making his eighth straight start, stopped 17 shots, including five in the third period as the Islanders took few chances while trying to protect a one-goal lead.
Sam Montembeault made 31 saves for the Canadiens (31-44-6).
The Islanders were understandably upset after a 5-2 road loss to the Capitals on Monday night cost them control of their own destiny and, instead, left them needing help from lottery-bound Chicago against the Penguins. But the Penguins lost on home ice, 5-2, to hand control right back to the Islanders.
“To lose that control stinks,” Hudson Fasching said. “So you’re kind of down all day. Pittsburgh was heavily favored in the game so you’re thinking the odds aren’t great.”
“It’s an opportunity where, yesterday in the morning you wake up and it’s like, ‘Oh,’ you’re lowdown,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “To see that gives you a little energy in life.”
Still, the Islanders had a hard time shaking the Canadiens, even after Brock Nelson’s second goal as he deflected Dobson’s point shot to give them a 3-1 lead at 10:20 of the second period.
But the power play, which had been 0 for 16 the previous eight games, hurt the Islanders early.
The Canadiens cut their deficit to 3-2 on Nick Suzuki’s short-handed goal at 16:38 of the second period as he hustled into the Islanders’ zone to beat strangely lackadaisical defenseman Samuel Bolduc to the puck, who should have gotten there first even if Suzuki had a hold of his stick.
Coach Lane Lambert benched Bolduc for the rest of the game.
The Islanders started strong, feeding off the crowd’s energy to take the game’s first four shots before Nelson opened the scoring off Kyle Palmieri’s feed to the left circle at 10:27 of the first period. Sorokin had denied Denis Gurianov as he got to the crease at 8:57 and turned aside Joel Armia’s one-timer 59 seconds before Nelson’s goal.
But the Canadiens continued to apply pressure, with Bolduc’s turnover turning into Sorokin’s blocker save on Michael Pezzetta at 14:00 and Joel Teasdale, in his NHL debut, hitting the right post seconds later. But Dobson’s turnover turned into Rem Pitlick’s equalizer on a one-timer from the right circle off Jake Evans’ feed at 17:38.
Fasching, though, regained a 2-1 lead for the Islanders at 18:57 of the first period as he swatted in the rebound when Zach Parise’s tip attempt hit the crossbar.
Bo Horvat, who finished with a career-high 38 goals but had just two over his last 19 games, hit the post with a backhander at 2:58 of the second period.
