Islanders' Tony DeAngelo believed team could make playoff push before signing

Tony DeAngelo knew he was playing for the better team. But he wasn’t sure his Hurricanes would eliminate the Islanders in the first round of last season’s playoffs.

The Hurricanes eventually did win in five games, but that impression has stuck with the defenseman — who joined the Islanders in late January as a free agent after starting the season with St. Petersburg SKA of the KHL — with his new team reinserting itself into the thick of the playoff chase.

The Islanders entered Thursday night’s game against the Canadiens at UBS Arena three points behind the visitors for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. They brought a 2-0-1 streak into the game after rallying for back-to-back 4-2 wins over the visiting Panthers on Sunday and in Pittsburgh on Tuesday with twin four-goal third periods.

“It was one of the reasons I signed here between the other options I had was just believing in the team’s ability to make a push for the playoffs,” DeAngelo said. “We’re doing that right now, so it’s fun to be a part of.

“There’s no panic in our team, which is good. It’s the biggest game of the year for both teams so far to date. But it’s also another night for us to try to keep doing what we’re doing. These guys have also been doing this for so long, these kind of games, whether it be playoffs or pushing for the playoffs and having to get in, that I think they’re pretty used to it. It seems like just another day.”

Last season, the Islanders finished the season on an 8-0-1 run to finish third in the Metropolitan Division. In 2022-23, the Islanders qualified for the postseason with a win over the Canadiens in the regular-season finale.

So Thursday may have been the biggest game of the season, but it wouldn’t have been without the comeback wins in the previous two games. And regardless of Thursday’s result in the start of a four-game homestand, Saturday’s game against the Flames and Monday’s game against the Blue Jackets, also fighting for the final wild-card berth, will take on the same significance.

“It’s a good point,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “I think it’s a slippery slope when you start calling these the biggest game of the year. If you lose it, then the next one is the biggest game.

“At this time of the year, everyone knows the value of points and where we’re at in the race. The teams we’re playing, where they’re at. What we’ve learned the last couple of years, there’s days where you feel that you’re down and out and then the next day you win a game and someone loses and you’re like right back in it.”

DeAngelo sensed that veteran calmness from the Islanders as an opponent during the previous few seasons, whether he was with the Hurricanes (twice), Rangers or Flyers.

“In Carolina last year, I was scratched for a while but I came into the playoffs and started Game 3,” DeAngelo said. “I felt that this team could have beat us, honestly. I thought we were the better team, to be completely honest. They just know how to play in these games. It’s a good, veteran group.”

DeAngelo has fit in well, entering Thursday with two goals and eight assists in 20 games while averaging 23:20 of ice time. He said this is the best he’s ever felt physically at this time of the season because the schedule in Russia was far less taxing than the NHL.

“He’s been playing very well,” coach Patrick Roy said. “What I love is when he moves the puck fast. Plays north. And he defends very well.”

Notes & quotes: There was booing throughout the Canadian national anthem and while it was not overwhelming, it was more sustained than in previous games against Winnipeg and Edmonton . . . Defenseman Alexander Romanov still had some lingering effects of an illness and missed his second straight game. “You love to have him in just for the player he is — the minutes, the penalty kill, his physicality, everything he does,” said DeAngelo, Romanov’s usual defense partner. “But I think that’s one of the bright spots about our team. We’ve got a really good defense. We’re able to rotate guys in and out.” . . . Defensemen Adam Boqvist and Scott Perunovich also remained out of the lineup and Matt Martin remained the extra forward.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.