Which is not to say the Islanders played poorly. Rather, their grit and resiliency, plus goalie Ilya Sorokin’s brilliant work, were beyond commendable. And they were rewarded for that with a gutsy 5-2 win on Tuesday night at UBS Arena to conclude a 5-2-0 homestand with their season’s high fifth straight victory.

Though the Colorado Avalanche have already played a game (and lost to the Boston Bruins) since the NHL was rocked, they are still clearly recovering in the wake of the massive trade that saw forward Mikko Rantanen shipped to the Carolina Hurricanes.