New York Islanders clinch playoff spot with 5-1 win over New Jersey Devils

The Isles seemed to know that they could take care of business on Monday and made sure to do so as soon as possible. It took just over 12 minutes for Jean-Gabriel Pageau to open the scoring in the first period, and after Kyle Palmieri scored 4:30 later, they had a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission. Timo Meier cut the lead in half a few minutes into the second, but Brock Nelson responded just over halfway through the game to regain the two-goal lead for the Islanders. Six minutes into the third period, Kyle MacLean gave the Isles an insurance goal to make it 4-1, and Alexander Romanov put the nail in the coffin with the 5-1 goal with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

Going into Monday’s game, the Isles had several ways they could have clinched a playoff spot that evening. While a win would have secured a playoff spot regardless of the out-of-town scoreboard, they also could have clinched with an overtime loss and one of the Detroit Red Wings or Washington Capitals losing, or with a regulation loss and some combination of the Red Wings and Capitals losing in regulation and the Pittsburgh Penguins losing in any fashion.

With the playoff berth, the Islanders will move on to the postseason for the 29th time in their franchise’s history, and for the fifth time in the past six seasons. It will also be their first appearance in the postseason under new head coach Patrick Roy, and it will be Roy’s first postseason appearance behind the bench since his rookie year as a head coach of the Colorado Avalanche in 2013-14.

With the New York Rangers 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators, it’s also guaranteed that the Islanders will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the playoffs. It will be the second straight season that the Isles will face the Canes in the first round, as last season saw Carolina best the Islanders in six games. The two teams also met in a second round series in 2019 that saw Carolina sweep the Islanders, the only other time they have met in the playoffs since the Hurricanes moved to Carolina.