ISLE BE RIGHT THERE: Casey Cizikas (right) is congratulated by teammate Colin McDonald on his third period goal during last night’s game. The win moved the Isles two poins ahead of the Rangers in the Eastern Conference playoff race. (Getty Images)
The change inside the Coliseum is absolutely palpable.
No longer does it seem that around every corner lies some unforeseen but entirely predictable gloom. No longer does confidence come in ripples, only to fade in the outgoing tide. No longer does the warm weather mean apathy and loathing inside this crumbling and soon-to-be vacated monument to a simpler game and simpler league.
“Everyone is excited here,” said Michael Grabner, who scored what would be the game-winner in the Islanders’ 4-1 win over the Flyers last night. “It’s 80-degree weather out there, and we’re playing hockey. We want to continue that into the 90s.”
Somehow, someway, that now seems inevitable. With the win, the Islanders leapfrogged the idle Rangers for seventh place in the conference, and they’re now tied with the sixth-place Senators with 44 points, behind them just because of Ottawa’s game in hand.
“Come the third period, if we’re down a goal or up a goal, I don’t think we’re panicking or nothing,” cornerstone defenseman Travis Hamonic told The Post before the game. “We’re just sticking with it. It snowballs now in a good way, instead of in a s—ty way, like it did in the past.”
The snowball for the 20-16-4 Islanders looks like this current nine-game stretch of 7-1-1, the type of late-season performance that has eluded this franchise since their last playoff berth in 2007.
“We know we can go out there and play with any team in the league, I think we’ve proven that,” said John Tavares, scoring his team-leading 24th goal late in the third period to make it 3-1. “I think we realize the importance of these games.”
Though the Flyers (17-19-3) went out to a 1-0 lead 6:26 into the first on a Jakub Voracek goal, the Islanders always seemed in control. After missing his first game in his Islanders career with the flu on Saturday, Matt Moulson tied it late in the first, followed by Grabner’s go-ahead tally in the second and Tavares’ comforter in the third.
“You don’t get to the playoffs with three, four goals against and winning 5-4 games,” said goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who made 26 saves and continues to look a lot more like the Vezina Trophy finalist he was in his prime in San Jose rather than his age of 37. “Everybody who is in the playoffs are good defensive teams, good puck possession teams, and good character teams. Now, we’re finding a way to win.”
When Casey Cizikas poured one into the Flyer’s empty net to finish the scoring, the 13,888 in the Coliseum started chanting, “We want play-offs.” It didn’t feel like a lark, but a genuine anticipation for something close enough to touch.
No, with eight games remaining, it’s not assured. Tomorrow night the Islanders are in Boston to face the mighty Bruins, then on Saturday it’s here again, against the Rangers.
Bring your earplugs for that one, because for the time being, it’s no longer a rivalry in sentiment only.
“For the first time in a long time,” Hamonic said, “we have our fate in our hands.”