On Tuesday morning, about 10 hours before he would exit the ice with a possible head injury against the Maple Leafs, I was talking to Brock Nelson and trying to get at the idea that the Islanders have started to find their groove over the past month because this is the time of year when games start to resemble the playoffs.

It’s not quite the full-tilt atmosphere of playoff hockey, but especially for teams whose fate is still in doubt, there’s less time and space on the ice and the game is tighter.

That’s how this Islanders group historically has thrived, and it’s how they’ve reverted to playing without Mat Barzal over the past month.

“We want to play tight games,” Nelson said. “I think we’re comfortable in those situations. Trying to stay patient offensively at times. Everyone’s gonna have offensive pushes, we’ll have ours. [Opposing] teams are probably saying the same things, you just have to weather a bit. We’ll have solid goaltending, try to stay structured defensively and you get your opportunities offensively. You want to take advantage.”