Anthony Duclair has been an Islander for 17 months, and at times it has felt like much longer for all parties.

So long that it is easy now to forget that when they signed Duclair on July 1, 2024, the idea was that Duclair’s speed and scoring ability would form a lethal top line with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat.

Everything that’s happened since then has been hashed and rehashed plenty: Duclair’s torn groin five games into last season, his attempt to come back that ended up being too soon, coach Patrick Roy ending his year early by laying into his effort in a press conference, Duclair floating between the bottom six and being a healthy scratch for much of this season.

Anthony Duclair (front) celebrates with teammates after scoring his third goal for a hat trick during the second period of the Islanders’ blowout win over the Devils on Jan. 6, 2025. Robert Sabo for New York Post

Tuesday marked his first game back in the lineup after two scratches; he played on the fourth line for the 10th time this season.

The game he turned in, though?

This was the Duclair the Islanders thought they were signing two summers ago, and then some. Duclair scored a natural hat trick to lead his team to a 9-0 beatdown over a reeling Devils team at UBS Arena, tying their largest margin of victory in franchise history.

“Very grateful, obviously,” Duclair said. “Very thankful for all the fans that threw their hats, too. Shoutout to Mom. Mom was in town and it’s her last day here on the Island. I wanted to play well for her. I’m glad she got to witness that.”

It was Duclair’s first time scoring since Dec. 2.

It was his first hat trick since Dec. 14. 2019 when he was an Ottawa Senator, and the fourth of his career. It was the first Islander hat trick for a player who missed the previous game since Mike Bossy on Oct. 29, 1983 — also against the Devils.

Anthony Duclair scores the second of his three goals during the first period of the Islanders’ blowout win over the Devils. Robert Sabo for New York Post

Duclair’s two assists late in the game allowed him to set a career high with five points, and he finished a plus-6 — the first Islander to do so since Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy finished plus-6 and plus-7 on Nov. 26, 1983.

“No one likes to be a healthy scratch, but it’s up to you to decide how you’re gonna deal with it,” Roy said. “And I think he did a really nice job being ready for the game, and he played an outstanding game.”

So out-of-nowhere was Duclair’s performance that it relegated Ilya Sorokin’s 45-save shutout — the 26th of his career to pass Chico Resch for the franchise record in his return from a lower-body injury that kept him out for the last seven games — to a secondary item.

The first two goals came in similar fashion, with Duclair holding the puck on an odd-man rush, selling the pass and beating Jacob Markstrom from the left circle.

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After Barzal’s one-timer opened the Islanders’ account 1:08 into the game, Duclair had made it 3-0 by the first intermission.

At 3:29 of the second, he completed a natural hat trick when Barzal, presented a shooting lane during a long offensive zone shift with the Islanders in the midst of changing, opted to feed Duclair for a one-timer instead, making it 4-0 and ending the competitive portion of the night.

The irony was that the Devils — both to that point and after it, though the latter largely as a result of score effects — dominated the run of play.

The Islanders struggled to break the puck out at times, and had Duclair not had his star turn, the story of the night would have been Sorokin looking like he didn’t miss a beat in his first game back and setting a franchise record.

Mathew Barzal (left) is congratulated by Emil Heineman after scoring a first period goal in the Islanders’ blowout win over the Devils. Robert Sabo for New York Post

“In order to be in that position, you have to have good years,” Roy said. “That’s what he’s been doing. Tonight he was really sharp, moving well, had a strong game.”

The same could not be said of Markstrom, who stopped a pitiful 15 of 23 shots and was inexplicably left in all night, even as Simon Holmstrom, Casey Cizikas, Tony DeAngelo, Cal Ritchie and Cizikas again poured on five more goals.

After Holmstrom made it 5-0, a frustrated Devils fan tossed a jersey onto the UBS ice, epitomizing the frustration that has set in amongst that fan base.

Islanders fans, by contrast, have nothing but jubilation right now amid a season in which their team has defied expectations to become a playoff contender and risen above a glut of injuries to keep finding ways to win.