Islanders can only control one thing in playoff push: Winning

It was not a warning. Not really, anyway.

The words that tumbled forth from Brayden Schenn were more an acknowledgment of the obvious, but they came with a caveat.

Yes, the Islanders are in the enviable position of being chased for a Stanley Cup playoff berth — instead of having to chase — with only a handful of games remaining in the 2025-26 regular season. Still, as the Stanley Cup winner pointed out to Newsday, that is a benefit only if they are able to win games and earn points.

“We did some good things [against Pittsburgh and Buffalo],” Schenn said after a spirited 30-minute practice on Thursday morning at Northwell Health Ice Center. “We just didn’t do enough good things to win hockey games. So being chased is always a thing. I know teams have games in hand on us now, but at the end of the day, we have to worry about controlling what we can, and that’s winning hockey games.”

For the Islanders, who enter their final six games of the regular season Friday night at UBS Arena against the Flyers with a 42-29-5 record and 89 points, the question is this: What do they have to do in the next week-and-a-half in order to qualify for the playoffs for the 30th time in franchise history?

Shot generation and shot suppression are good starting points. Both were problematic areas in their 8-3 loss to Pittsburgh on home ice Monday and their 4-3 loss to the Sabres in Buffalo on Tuesday.

According to hockey analytics website NaturalStatTrick.com, the Islanders were outshot 30-20, out-attempted 47-32 and allowed 17 more high-danger chances than they created (24-7) against the Penguins. Twenty-four hours later, the Islanders were outshot 25-15, out-attempted 51-32 and had nine fewer high-danger chances than the Sabres (12-3).

When a team is not generating scoring chances and is yielding scoring chances, it is difficult to win hockey games.

“I thought we played a good game against Buffalo. There’s a few things we could clean up here and there,” coach Patrick Roy said. “It’s going to be important for us to have a good start and play a good game at home. I think we’re all disappointed [with] the loss [to] Pittsburgh and we want to make sure we play a good game here at home.”

Playing well on home ice has been a season-long trend for the Islanders, whose 21-13-2 mark at home ranks 13th in the NHL, according to data culled by StatMuse.com. And the Islanders play five of their final six games at UBS Arena.

“It’s massive,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. “We’ve been on the road so much and the travel part, from what I’ve learned [from] experience, it always catches up towards the end of the year. Just to have that final stretch at home will be massive for everyone.”

After they departed their East Meadow practice facility, the Islanders — who at 89 points were in third place in the Metropolitan Division — found themselves in the role of interested observers.

Four of the teams chasing them were in action Thursday night, and at the end of the night, they were left with these point totals: Ottawa (39-26-10, 88 points), Detroit (40-27-8, 88 points), Columbus (38-26-12, 88 points) and Philadelphia (37-26-12, 86 points).

The Islanders remained in third. The Senators passed the Blue Jackets for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference by outlasting the Sabres, 4-1 (Columbus was routed by the Hurricanes, 5-1). The Islanders stayed three points ahead of the Flyers, thanks to Detroit’s 4-2 win.

The Islanders and Blue Jackets have six games remaining; Ottawa, Detroit and Philadelphia have seven games to play.

So no ground was lost. But as Carson Soucy stressed, the task at hand for the Islanders is to gain ground.

“We control our own destiny,” he said. “We’re in the spot right now, so we have to win some games.”