from Neil Best of Newsday,

Thanks for the memories from that 17-game point streak, Islanders. It was big fun . . . when was that again? Oh, right, last autumn.

That is ancient history now, with exactly two months left between their next game and their last regular-season game on April 4 — if not their last game, period, with a playoff berth far from a certainty.

The good news is this should be an entertaining ride, as evidenced by Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Canucks at Barclays Center, which allowed the Islanders to cling to third place in the Metropolitan Division thanks to a late, point-salvaging goal.

The scary news for the team and its fans is that this is not going to be easy, not with a tightly packed posse of Eastern Conference contenders on the Islanders’ heels.

While the coach and players said many positive things about their effort against the Pacific Division leaders after having been off since Jan. 21, they are going to need many more positive things to happen in the coming weeks.

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