Islanders hoping to carry over success from perfect three-game trip to seven-game homestand

For the first time in three months, give or take a few days, the Islanders have created a bit of positive traction.

Three wins in a row will do that.

Now the tasks are to continue building on what was accomplished in Boston, Las Vegas and Utah, on their home ice in their season-long seven-game homestand against teams who reside in a similar place in the Eastern Conference standings.

“An extended stretch like this, it’s important for us,” Scott Mayfield told Newsday following practice Monday morning at Northwell Health Ice Center. “[We have] games coming up here that we need some wins.”

The Islanders (17-18-7, 41 points) begin that homestand on Tuesday night against the Ottawa Senators (21-18-3, 45 points), who trail the Columbus Blue Jackets by one point for the second Wild Card slot in the East. The Senators are coming off wins against Pittsburgh (5-0) on Saturday and Dallas (3-2) on Sunday.

The Islanders also will welcome John Tortorella’s Flyers (18-20-5, 41 points) twice and the Blue Jackets (20-17-6, 46 points) in the stretch.

Teams cannot clinch a playoff berth in January, but the results of games played in January can determine whether or not a club finds itself playing meaningful contests in April.

So, yes, the head-to-head matchups with three of the nine teams trying to claim the East’s two Wild Card positions are going to be somewhat meaningful for the Islanders, a group that team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello recently reiterated his belief in.

“It’s tight,” Mayfield said. “You look at the standings, it’s tight. That whole middle group is right there and it’s all about putting wins together and just climbing the ladder.”

While being acutely aware of what’s going on around them, such as Detroit’s seven-game winning streak.

“You’re always scoreboard-watching,” Bo Horvat said. “You’re always seeing how other teams are doing, right? At the end of the day, it’s in this room. It’s about what we’re going to do, right? You can’t be focused on other teams helping out. It’s kind of what we have to do in here to win.”

Sustaining the way the Islanders played on the road trip, wher they outscored their three opponents by an aggregate, 11-5, will be paramount.

According to NHL analytics website NaturalStatTrick.com, the Islanders have yielded the third-fewest goals against, the fifth-lowest scoring chances against (65) and the sixth-fewest high-danger chances (27) in the NHL between Jan. 5-13.

“We stuck to our game plan,” Horvat said. “We’re not trying to be something we’re not. We’re not trying to out-skill teams. I think we’ve simplified our game enough where we’re making the right plays at the right time. We’re also playing well defensively.”

Notes & quotes: Defenseman Isaiah George was a full participant in the half-hour practice. The rookie had not played since Jan. 2, when he was elbowed in the head by Toronto’s Max Domi. “He looked good,” Patrick Roy said. “I don’t know if he’s going to play or not but I’ll probably know more on Tuesday. But he looked good.” …Alex Romanov (upper-body, day-to-day), Hudson Fasching (upper-body, day-to-day), Simon Holmstrom (upper-body, IR), and Semyon Varlamov (lower-body, IR) did not practice.