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If this final game before the trade deadline doubled as the final game in Islanders colors for Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, then at least it was a good one.Both players scored as the Islanders notched a rare win on the second end of a back-to-back, holding off best-in-the-league Winnipeg 3-2 to wash out the taste of a blowout loss to the Rangers 24 hours prior.It’s hard to believe that will be enough for management to move away from selling between now and Friday, with the Islanders still well behind in the playoff race, but the hopes of another long-shot postseason trip are not entirely dead yet.With the Red Wings and Blue Jackets both losing, the Islanders sit just three points behind the cutline, though the Rangers, Senators, Canadiens and Bruins all sit in between.Giving up on their two top-six players on expiring contracts and giving up on the season, it should be noted, do not necessarily need to be one and the same — that all depends on the return and what (if any) other moves GM Lou Lamoriello makes.After the disastrous showing at the Garden on Monday, proving that there was still some pride and intensity left in the group was just as important as anything else.
That, at least, the Islanders did.The slew of lineup changes, with Anthony Duclair coming back in, Patrick Roy abandoning the 11 and 7 setup he’d used against the Rangers and juggling his line combinations, proved to work well, particularly in the bottom six.The third and fourth lines got up ice regularly and played the sort of physical, hard-forechecking game that’s often been lacking this season.Winnipeg cut a 2-0 Islanders lead in half at 8:48 of the second when Josh Morrissey’s shot caromed off Simon Holmstrom’s skate and caught Ilya Sorokin going the wrong way.That power-play goal breathed new life into the Jets and changed the momentum of a game the Islanders had — after a slow first 10 minutes — generally controlled.The Islanders, however, again extended their lead to two g...