It wasn’t the way they drew it up but the Islanders are officially back in the playoffs. Following last year’s disappointment, there’ll be playoff hockey for one final time at Nassau Coliseum. With the Panthers defeating the Bruins 4-2 last night, it wrapped up a postseason berth for the Islanders. Ironically, it was former Islander Brad Boyes who scored the winner against Boston helping the Isles make it.

A great first half was enough to get them in. Led by captain John Tavares, the Islanders can still earn home ice for the first round. Entering tonight’s road match at the Penguins, they trail the second place Capitals by three points. If they can win tonight and at home tomorrow against the Blue Jackets, that would put them at 102 points. They would need the Rangers to provide help. They visit Washington in tomorrow’s season finale.

With the Islanders two points better than the Penguins, they can guarantee themselves third place in the Metropolitan Division with a win tonight. The Pens are clinging to the second wildcard with 96 points. One up on the Bruins, who must win tomorrow at the Lightning to have any chance. Pittsburgh trails Ottawa for the first wildcard by a point. Despite their struggles having lost four straight with a depleted roster minus Norris candidate Kris Letang and down to five defensemen for tonight with Derrick Pouliot out, they can still move up to third in the division with wins in their final two including a visit at the Sabres Saturday.

The question is what do the Pens have left. Having blown a 3-0 lead in a stunning 4-3 overtime defeat to the Senators, they are playing just to get in. All they have to do is win tonight to clinch. With captain Sidney Crosby tied with Tavares and Jamie Benn for the league lead in scoring with 83 points, they still possess two of the game’s best players. Evgeni Malkin returned two games ago. He has 70 points in 67 games but has battled through injuries. Patric Hornqvist also has dealt with injuries but scored at Ottawa. He has 25 goals. David Perron has 22 points (12-10-22) in 41 games since coming over from Edmonton. He’s been cold with only one assist in the last 10. His last goal came on 3/15 against Detroit.

The Pens have been carried by Marc-Andre Fleury. Even though he hasn’t won lately, Fleury has had an excellent season with 33 wins and is tied for the league lead in shutouts (9) with Hart and Vezina front runner Carey Price and Braden Holtby. The much maligned Pittsburgh netminder also boasts a solid 2.35 goals-against-average and .920 save percentage. He wasn’t to blame for the Pens’ collapse on Tuesday.

Clearly, they’re not the same team without Letang. Don’t forget they lost talented second-year defenseman Olli Maatta. Throw in the subtractions of Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen to the Caps, who have improved defensively and it’s not surprising that the Pens are limping to the finish line. Paul Martin is their most dependable blueliner with Letang out due to a concussion. Christian Ehrhoff has only played 49 games. Ian Cole has been a good pickup providing valuable minutes. Vet Rob Scuderi is counted on.

While the Pens try to find their way into the playoffs, the Islanders are just looking to right the ship. They’ve been up and down lately. Since a March 10 2-1 loss to the Rangers, they’re 3-7-2. The wins have come against the Devils, Red Wings and Sabres. They’re coming off a stinging 5-4 road loss to the Flyers. In that one, they rallied from 4-1 down in the third period tying it up with 28 seconds left thanks to rookie Anders Lee’s second from Tavares. However, Jaroslav Halak let in an awful goal with under three seconds left to Brayden Schenn sending them to a mind boggling defeat.

Had the Bruins won, the pressure would’ve been on. Instead, the Isles can just go about building upon Tueday’s rally. Even though they lost, they did come back on goals from Lee, Johnny Boychuk and Lee. A positive sign. They can score goals. In a wild home win over Detroit, they outscored the Wings 5-4. It’s just about finding consistency. Something that hasn’t been there down the stretch.

It would help if Halak played like he did early on. He’s still got respectable numbers setting an Islanders franchise record in wins (37) with a 2.44 GAA, .913 save percentage and six shutouts. However, he hasn’t played this many games (57) since 2010-11 with the Blues. It’s only the second time in his career he’s started that many. Perhaps he’s wearing down. If they’re to go anywhere in the playoffs, they need Halak to rebound.

Since returning from a torn retina, Kyle Okposo hasn’t been the same. Though he has goals in two of the last four games, he’s only 3-1-4 over the last 12 contests with a minus-10 rating. Okposo was on track for a career year before the injury. If he can turn it up, that would make the Isles a much more dangerous team.

One player who’s playing well is second-year forward Ryan Strome. Overshadowed by Tavares and rookie Lee, he quietly is second in team scoring with 50 points (17-33-50). His plus-24 rating tops the club. Over his last eight, he has seven points (3-4-7) with a plus-six rating. A fixture for most of the season on the second line, he’s been moved up to the top line by Jack Capuano with Nikolay Kulemin.

The Islanders will be without Frans Nielsen and Matt Martin who’ll miss their second consecutive games with undisclosed injuries. Cal Clutterbuck returns to the lineup for Colin McDonald.

Islanders Projected Lines

Kulemin-Tavares-Strome

Grabner-Bailey-Okposo

Lee-Nelson-Kennedy

Boulton-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

Newsday’s Arthur Staple tweeted a couple of Islanders playoff scenarios.

If the Islanders lost tonight, then they could face four different teams all on the road including the Rangers, Canadiens, Lightning or Capitals.

Quotable: “I sent [former Islander] Brad Boyes a text saying thanks, it was a big game-winner for us. It’s always a little bit of a relief when you officially know it’s done, especially the way things happened the past couple of nights. We’ve worked hard, I think we’ve earned it. We want to go do some damage. We want to finish strong.”-Islanders captain John Tavares