Since firing coach Jack Capuano on Jan. 17 and handing the reins to assistant Doug Weight, the Islanders have won 15 of 23 games.
It's a stark contrast from New York's 17-17-8 showing under Capauno, whose club sat last in the East at the time of his dismissal.
Now with 73 points on the season, the Islanders hold down the East's second wild-card seed. In fact, no club has picked up more points than the Islanders since the change behind the bench:
Team
Record
Points
Islanders
14-6-3
31
Rangers
15-7-1
31
Capitals
15-5-1
31
Sharks
13-3-5
31
Blackhawks
15-4-0
30
Senators
14-7-2
30
Wild
14-7-1
29
Penguins
13-5-3
29
Despite his success, Weight credits Capuano for how he's performed in his first shot as a head coach.
"I learned a lot from our previous coach. Jack's a great friend. Preparation is a key for me and I learned that from him," Weight told Eric Duhatschek of The Globe and Mail. "There is a certain way I handle each guy and the way I handle the bench that I believe can be beneficial to us over the course of a season."
New York is in the midst of a nine-game road trip, where they are 4-2-1, with two games remaining against the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues before returning to Brooklyn.
With 17 games left on the campaign, the Islanders have the chance to lock down their third straight playoff appearance, a feat the franchise has accomplished just once since 1988.
Just over a month remains before the regular season gives way to the 2017 playoffs, and the league's contenders and pretenders continue to emerge from the pack.
The top of the pile has looked the same for much of the season, with the usual powerhouses looking most likely to add to their championship counts. But it's the other end of the spectrum that's most intriguing.
While some of the teams on the playoff bubble gain momentum and tease the promise of a miracle run, others seem unsure of why they're even in the picture.
Let's take a closer look at who may be in over their heads:
1. Toronto Maple Leafs
The Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner show has been a treat to watch, but clinching a playoff spot would likely be where the good times end for the blue and white in 2017.
It the Maple Leafs do indeed snag the final wild-card spot, they'll likely find themselves face to face with the Washington Capitals in round one, with the current top-ranked club also the most motivated to prove itself in the postseason.
The mismatch here is pretty clear.
Toronto has allowed the eighth-most goals per game thus far, as Frederik Andersen has looked brilliant at times and downright terrible at others. He's shown promise, but Andersen's .916 save percentage suggests he isn't going to hold up for 4-7 games against Alex Ovechkin and the rest of Washington's third-ranked offense.
Making matters worse, the Leafs hold the fifth-worst penalty differential in the league, having taken 23 more penalties than they've drawn. So take that offensive mismatch and add in the man-advantage factor.
Not ideal.
And then there's the issue of the Leafs' frequent third-period meltdowns - Washington scores more goals in the third than in any other period, their 81 tallies in the final frame ranks fourth-most in the league.
Again, not ideal.
Toronto has talent, but the Capitals are heading into these playoffs with fire in their eyes, as Ovechkin and company know their window is closing. They were just a few one-goal losses away from advancing to the conference finals last year, and they're not about to be quashed by a bunch of teenagers this time around.
2. Ottawa Senators
Elsewhere in Ontario, the Ottawa Senators are similarly in danger of getting rolled over once the playoffs begin.
The Senators have managed to hang on to second place in the Atlantic Division, but with the injury cloud hanging over them, the club's depth remains in question at the worst possible time.
Of all the teams bound for the playoffs via top-three division finishes, Ottawa's goal differential ranks last - they've scored just one more goal than they've allowed up to this point. Even one of the potential wild-card teams boasts a better differential, as the New York Rangers have potted 37 more goals than they've allowed.
Regardless of the injuries, Ottawa just doesn't seem to have the offensive firepower necessary to contend with any of their conference's big guns.
The Senators' playoff hopes have a hard cap in this regard, as they can't match the top-end skill of their conference's best, let alone overall depth throughout the lineup.
Even their likely first-round matchup, the Boston Bruins, has a better top-three in Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and David Pastrnak. That line remains the most dominant regularly-used trio in the league in terms of puck possession, and Marchand's breakout year has him fourth in league scoring.
New additions Alex Burrows and Viktor Stalberg put up a few goals early in their tenures with their new club, but they aren't the catalysts that spur true contention from the Senators.
They'll make it to the dance, but they won't be staying long.
3. Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators have found new life as of late, with Filip Forsberg piling in three-point games seemingly every night. But even with everything going right at the moment, the Predators are about to run into a brick wall in the first round.
Nashville currently sits third in the Central Division, with the stumbling St. Louis Blues closest to taking their spot. Winnipeg is coming, but if Nashville holds on, they'll punch their playoff ticket in that No.3 position.
That gives them either the Minnesota Wild or Chicago Blackhawks in round one - whichever of the two dominant squads doesn't claim the division title.
Good luck.
If the Predators draw Minnesota, they get the club with the highest goal differential in the West, and second-highest in the league overall - the Wild have potted 61 more than they've allowed this season.
Minnesota boasts 11 different players with double-digit goal totals, more than any other team in the league. Seven forwards rank above star winger Zach Parise in that regard. If he turns it up, and the rest of Minnesota's offense keeps rolling, Nashville will have its hands full.
And answering back won't be easy, not with the league's current top netminder, Devan Dubnyk, manning the Wild cage.
But maybe Nashville will catch a break and get Chicago. The Blackhawks have won seven in a row and 12 of their last 13. Throughout those 13 tilts, star forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have posted a dominant 41 combined points - both ranking among the top-three scorers in the league over that span.
Anything can happen once the playoffs begin and the stakes change, but all things considered, it's safe to assume the Predators' yellow threads won't be making an appearance in the second round.
Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel has been the NHL's best since Feb. 1, collecting 24 points in his last 18 games. Through 46 games, Eichel has 45 points, and a near point-per-game pace that ranks 13th league-wide (among skaters with at least 40 games).
Facing the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, and with Buffalo's playoff hopes fading, the Sabres were defeated 6-3. Eichel registered two of the tallies after picking up an assist on Evander Kane's goal, but it wasn't enough, as the Sabres fell to 1-5-2 in their last eight outings.
The game was the Sabres' first since Sunday's collapse against the Pittsburgh Penguins, in which Buffalo grabbed an early 3-0 lead in the opening frame only to fall 4-3 in regulation.
With just 15 games left on the campaign, the Sabres have made things a little more difficult for themselves, now sitting seven points outside of the East's final playoff seed, while four teams stand between Buffalo and the New York Islanders, the current occupants of the second wild-card slot.
A playoff miss would extend the Sabres' postseason drought to six years. Only the Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes have been worse, while the Oilers are poised to make their first playoff appearance since 2006.
Buffalo is back in action Friday to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets, owners of the league's third-best record, and 24 points ahead of the Sabres.
With a Stanley Cup Playoffs berth all but sewn up in the franchise's greatest season to date, the Blue Jackets are shifting their focus toward the Presidents' Trophy and finishing with the league's top record.
"What do you get up for? How do you motivate yourself? Push for the Presidents' Trophy. Push to be the best team in the league come playoffs."
For the Jackets, the recognition would've been much more than adding hardware to a largely bare franchise ledger. It would mean avoiding a first-round matchup with another Metropolitan Division heavyweight. And, assuming they advance past the second wild-card entry, the Blue Jackets would then meet a division rival already enervated by another in the second round.
Not to mention enjoying the comforts of Nationwide Arena throughout.
"We are right there," forward Brandon Dubinsky said. "We have a couple games with (the Capitals), and we still have a tough schedule, but I think we are trending in the right direction.
"We are going to take every opportunity to go for it."
According to Reed, the Presidents' Trophy objective has just been discussed between Foligno and Dubinsky - not yet inside the room.
Five points back with 17 games remaining, now's time to spread the word.
Despite real glimmers of hope, the situation in Buffalo remains grim with 15 games remaining on the schedule.
While Jack Eichel continues to put up points and Evander Kane scores at a torrid pace, the wins for the Sabres simply aren't coming, and the mood around the team is bleak, says goaltender Robin Lehner.
"You can clearly hear the disappointment in the building," Lehner said after Tuesday's loss to Philadelphia, per John Vogl of the Buffalo News. "It’s been a long season. It’s disappointing where we are."
The Sabres are currently seventh in the Atlantic Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference, with already slim playoff hopes all but extinguished thanks to a record of 1-5-2 over the past eight games.
"It’s frustrating to go through this," Lehner continued. "We’ve all got to be better. It’s not one guy or two guys. It’s a team game. We talk about a lot of different things."
It certainly didn't help that Eichel - who does indeed appear to be a franchise cornerstone - missed a quarter of the season due to injury, but general manager Tim Murray will have some work to do in the offseason in order to ensure progress is made in 2017-18.
For the St. Louis Blues, earning two points with Tuesday's victory over the division-leading Minnesota Wild kept them in good standing when it comes to a playoff spot.
And for head coach Mike Yeo, it was nice to beat his former team.
"I'd be lying if it didn't feel pretty good," Yeo said. "But in all honesty, I wanted this one for our group."
The Wild fired Yeo as head coach late last season, and the Blues hired him to serve as an assistant to Ken Hitchcock with a view to taking over as bench boss in 2017-18.
That plan was expedited Feb. 1, putting Yeo in position to coach against the Wild on Tuesday for the first time since Minnesota let him go.
St. Louis currently sits 19 points behind the Wild, and, as the second wild-card team, would be matched up against Minnesota in the opening round of the playoffs.
Days after Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice took a shot at fellow bench boss Mike Babcock, suggesting the Jets don't use their youth as an excuse like the Toronto Maple Leafs do, Babcock dug in on the impact experience - or lack thereof - has on a young team.
The Leafs outlasted Babcock's former club, the Detroit Red Wings, on Tuesday night, winning 3-2 after nearly succumbing to yet another third-period meltdown.
Following the victory, Babcock said the team's third-period issues are directly tied to their inexperience.
"Some people may think this is an excuse - I don't think it's an excuse at all," Babcock said, according to The Athletic's David Alter. "When you have a veteran group who has been through it before, someone goes out and calms everyone down and just makes a play. And we don't - it's like a feeding frenzy. So as much as we talk about it, not a whole lot happens."
For those who have spent time in the big leagues, it's a simple formula.
"When you're loose and driving, you're flying and on top of the other team and you look fast and you're playing right. Then when you're tight, you look slow," Babcock said, according to the team. "That's just the reality of being in the league and learning how to win, and expecting to win every night and understanding what you've got to do to win."
The veteran coach did highlight Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri as a few team veterans who dug in late in the game to help the club hold on for the win. Kadri netted what wound up being the game-winner midway through the tilt, scoring his career-best 27th of the year in the second period.
