ELMONT, N.Y. — The Islanders had to win to keep up in the playoff chase.
They responded with one of their most determined efforts of the season.
The Islanders dominated the worn-down and injured Lightning — playing on back-to-back nights — 6-1 at UBS Arena on Thursday with a four-goal second period. Brock Nelson had a goal and two assists.
Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves, including two acrobatic saves on Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s shorthanded breakaway at 15:17 of the second period.
The Islanders (40-30-9) retained the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, even in points and games with the Panthers, who have one more regulation win after routing the Senators 7-2 on Thursday. The Penguins, who beat the Wild 4-1, are one point back and have also played 79 games.
“I don’t really think about what-ifs,” said Anders Lee. “We have to take care of our stuff and play these games like we absolutely need to and with everything we have.”
The Islanders lost 5-0 in Tampa Bay on Saturday as Andrei Vasilevskiy made 38 saves for the shutout. Brian Elliott stopped 35 shots for the Lightning (45-28-6) on Thursday.
The Islanders had managed just two goals on their recently-completed 1-2-0 road trip.
“The No. 1 thing that triggers our offense is establishing the forecheck,” said coach Lane Lambert, who watched his team do that quickly against the Lightning.
The Islanders finish with home games against the Flyers and Canadiens and a road game against the Capitals, none of those three headed to the playoffs.
The Penguins also finish against three teams that will miss the postseason as they play in Detroit and Columbus and host Chicago. The Panthers, who have won five straight, conclude their season with a road game against the Capitals and home games against the Maple Leafs and Hurricanes, both who have clinched a playoff berth.
The Islanders led by one when the game seemed to turn at 9:00 of the second period. Key Lightning bottom-six forward Tanner Jeannot had his right leg twisted awkwardly underneath him as he defenseman Scott Mayfield came together along the neutral-zone wall. Jeannot was unable to put weight on the leg and was helped off the ice. Pat Maroon then exited at 18:00 of the second period.
The Lightning were already without Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and defenseman Erik Cernak.
Nelson made it 2-0 just 54 seconds after Jeannot’s injury, taking rookie defenseman Samuel Bolduc’s feed to the slot for a one-timer. It marked Bolduc’s first career assist.
Then Kyle Palmieri extended the lead to 3-0 at 10:43 of the second period, roofing a shot off the rush off Nelson’s feed. Nikita Kucherov, beating Sorokin from the slot after Brayden Point took the puck from defenseman Sebastian Aho, brought the Lightning within 3-1 at 16:47 of the second period.
But Nelson set up Pulock’s rising shot from the high slot with 19.7 seconds remaining for a 4-1 lead.
The Islanders took 10 of the game’s first 11 shots and held a 13-3 shot advantage through one period, though they did not get an abundance of looks from near the crease. The Lightning were coming off Wednesday night’s 6-3 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden with those teams combining for 70 penalty minutes and three fights.
Defenseman Adam Pelech finally gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 3:46 of the second period on a shot from the left point for his career-high sixth goal with Hudson Fasching finding him from near the crease.
Simon Holmstrom scored at 15:14 of the third period off Bo Horvat’s backhanded feed then Horvat capped the scoring at 19:40.
The Islanders snapped a six-game regular-season losing streak to the Lightning.
