NHL

Islanders rip Flyers to storm past Rangers into seventh place in playoff race

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.

Tuesday night, no matter how the scoreboard read, there was a strange understanding the Islanders were going to pull this one out, not just come back, but beat the Flyers, which they did, 4-1.

Don’t look now, but it’s the Islanders climbing their way up the standings, not just sneaking in. Having already passed the idle Rangers in seventh place, that coveted sixth position in the standings is now in the sights of these upstart kids playing out in the suburbs.

“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 s—y 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 alluded this franchise since their last playoff berth in 2007. The Flyers (17-19-3) are a team going in the other direction, starting newly acquired backup goalie Steve Mason and paying for it.

When Casey Cizikas poured one into the empty net near the end of the third to finish off three unanswered goals, the crowd started chanting “We Want Playoffs,” and it looks like they’re going to get them.

Before Cizkias, John Tavares scored his team-leading 24th of the season to make it 3-1.

In the first, the Isles went down early to a Jakub Voracek goal, but matched it less than 10 minutes later when Matt Moulson scored to tie it 1-1.

Then the Islanders went into the second period and controlled the tempo of the game. With just under three minutes remaining, grinding winger Colin McDonald won a battle along the boards and crossed it to Michael Grabner, who ripped a screened wrist shot passed Steve Mason for what would be the game-winner.

“For the first time in a long time,” Hamonic said, “we have our fate in our hands.”

bcyrgalis@nypost.com