Islanders pretty much need six wins in last six games, and some help, to reach playoffs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The time for glancing at the standings and obsessively checking the out-of-town results is over. For the Islanders, the scenario is simple when it comes to their longshot playoff chances: Win every game.

The Islanders enter Tuesday night’s match against the out-of-contention Predators at Bridgestone Arena on a two-game winning streak yet seven points behind the Canadiens for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. After Tuesday, just five regular-season games remain.

“I’m not focusing on math,” coach Patrick Roy said. “I’m focusing on games.”

And while Roy did not agree having such a simply spelled-out task — however daunting — could almost ease the burden, some players did acknowledge the win-or-else situation was almost freeing.

“Yeah, I mean there’s not too much you’ve got to think about,” Kyle Palmieri said. “We still need some help. But, for us, it goes back to the same thing about the offseason. It’s what you can control. For us, it’s going out there and getting off to a good start and just kind of building on some of the things we’ve done in the last two games.”

“It’s just like we’ve got to win,” Hudson Fasching said. “For us, that’s been the message, too: Focus on us. As much as we’ve got to scoreboard watch, we can’t control that. It is sort of freeing to just be, ‘All right, let’s just go play our game. We have to win.’ It’s playoff games for the last six games. It’s a good intensity and I think we’re in a good place with it and we’re feeling good about our game right now.”

Still, the likelihood is the Islanders will miss the postseason for the first time since 2022 and not have a chance to win their first playoff series since 2021, when they advanced to the NHL semifinals for the second straight season.

It could — and perhaps should — lead to an offseason of significant roster overhaul. President/general manager Lou Lamoriello said after his only move before the NHL trade deadline on March 7 was to deal Brock Nelson to the Avalanche when those two sides could not reach an agreement on a contract extension that “there will be change this summer.”

“We know we have to do more than what just transpired,” Lamoriello said on March 8. “We feel very strongly on that.”

From a player’s perspective, now is not the time to dwell on that, though.

“I don’t know how many guys are really thinking about that right now,” Palmieri said. “We’ve got nine days left in the season and we have the opportunity to push and put a little pressure on the teams above us. For us it’s about really just taking it game by game, and we want to play well for each other. We’ve fought hard all year and to sit there and mail it in for nine more days, it’s not something that’s part of our culture and the respect we have for each other as teammates.

“The offseason will be whatever it is,” said Palmieri, a pending unrestricted free agent as he completes a four-year, $20 million deal but who is believed to either have already worked out an extension with Lamoriello or be close to one. “We can’t control that.”

 Fourth-liner Matt Martin may be playing the final six games of his distinguished NHL career.

But he’s not looking at the end to this season any differently than he has his first 15 seasons.

“Every year the team is going to be different regardless,” Martin said. “We’re just focused on winning and, ultimately, the goal would be to win them all and see where the chips fall at the end of the day.”

“You can’t look too far ahead,” defenseman Adam Pelech said. “You have to be focused on the task at hand. I think that’s so important in our sport.”

Notes & quotes: The Islanders entered Tuesday having not won in Nashville since Oct. 28, 2017, with five straight losses at Bridgestone Arena . . . Defensemen Mike Reilly, Adam Boqvist and Scott Perunovich remained healthy scratches while Anthony Duclair missed his third game while on a leave of absence.