The Islanders got just what they had been waiting for, and they got it at the perfect moment to boost their spirits ahead of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Mathew Barzal, back on the ice with the team and ready to go for Game 1 against the Hurricanes.

“That’s the plan right now,” Barzal confirmed following practice Friday.

Barzal, who has not played in nearly two months, does not expect to have any restrictions in Game 1 on Monday, and said he might even have been able to try returning for the last two or three games of the regular season if the Islanders had not played so well in his stead.

The superstar forward exited the Feb. 18 match at Boston early after a knee-to-knee hit with Craig Smith.

Without him, the Islanders managed to surge into the playoffs, clinching a spot on the final day of the season, but there is no question about how much better they can be with Barzal.

Even though Barzal played just 58 games this season, his 51 points were second only to Brock Nelson’s 75 on the Islanders.

And the power play, which had been anemic for so much of the season, now gets its best passer back in the fold.

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The top line, which had been treading water with Simon Holmstrom or Josh Bailey on Bo Horvat’s right side, now looks downright fearsome, with Anders Lee, Horvat and Barzal together again.

“Last night, honestly, I had anxious nerves a little bit,” Barzal said. “Just so excited to get back. I’ve felt pretty good now for a little while, knew this day was gonna come. But to actually have it here and be back with the boys and be out there, it just lifts my soul, almost, you know what I mean?”

The Islanders know, all right.

“It obviously gives us another boost, knowing he’s gonna be back,” Horvat said. “His ability to make plays and carry the offense that way is gonna be big for us.”

“It’s almost like acquiring another elite asset at the deadline,” Ryan Pulock said. “It can make your team that much better right away.”

“Add him and Bo and Anders in there,” coach Lane Lambert said, “that becomes a pretty dangerous line if you ask me. There’s a lot of upside to that.”

Barzal, a diehard fan of hockey who spends much of his personal time keeping up with the league, found while he was out, maybe for the first time ever, that watching it was hard.

But there is a silver lining.

“What I did watch was some really good hockey,” he said. “Guys working, guys playing for each other and you can tell, these guys have been playoff hockey for the last 20 games.”

The Islanders’ record without Barzal was 14-7-2, with every point a necessity.

After struggling through January, they found a winning formula.

And now, they’re optimistic that Barzal can step right into it.

“It’s so exciting, I can’t even tell you how hard [missing the playoffs] last year was,” Barzal said. “Just not playing in those big games, in those big moments. We want to be in the spotlight and that’s what the playoffs is.”

After the Islanders acquired Horvat in January, he played just six full games with Barzal before Barzal got hurt.

That is a small sample size, but during that time the Islanders converted six of 17 power play chances (35.2 percent), as Barzal and Horvat put up a 56.39 expected goals percentage while on the ice together at five-on-five.

So yes, Barzal’s return may be a game-changer.

“Felt confident that we were gonna get the job done [in the regular season],” Barzal said. “I’m so pumped that we did and I’m just so excited to be back.”