The Islanders came into Philadelphia on Monday night outmanned and reeling, having lost their past two games by a combined score of 9-1.

For a team that hadn’t lost three straight games in regulation since the first three games of the season, and for a team that would have gone below the playoff cutline with a defeat, this was a game they needed in the worst sort of way.

Down Simon Holmstrom, Cal Ritchie and Ryan Pulock with a combination of illness and injury, the Islanders showed their resilience anyway, defeating the Flyers 4-0 at Wells Fargo Center.

“We approached the game like it was a playoff game,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau told reporters after a two-goal performance. “And I thought we played an extremely solid game. Of course, when your goalie gives zero, it helps a lot.”

This performance had so much of what the Islanders have lacked recently.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau #44 of the New York Islanders celebrates his first period shorthanded goal against the Philadelphia Flyers with Casey Cizikas #53 at the Xfinity Mobile Arena on January 26, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NHLI via Getty Images

The Islanders dominated on special teams. They held the puck in the offensive zone and played off the cycle. They cut down on high-danger chances around Ilya Sorokin’s crease, helping him to a 21-save shutout.

That is what they will need to do, again and again, if they are going to stay above the playoff cutline and make some noise in the tournament itself.

Coach Patrick Roy’s constant reshuffling of the lines finally seemed to land on some combinations that did the trick here. Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair had exactly the right response to their third-period benching on Saturday, playing most of the night up ice on a line with Jonathan Drouin. The trio produced a goal when Barzal tipped Isaiah George’s shot from the right point past Sam Ersson to make it a 2-0 game 5:41 into the second.

That was sandwiched between a pair of special teams goals, the first of which came from Pageau shorthanded at 14:29 of the first. Pageau took Casey Cizikas’ expertly spun feed off the wall and went bar-down to open the scoring.

Barzal then got his second point of the night on the power play, assisting Tony DeAngelo off the rush to make it 3-0 at 12:50 of the second. Ironically, that counted for DeAngelo’s first power play goal as an Islander. And, as Roy noted, the play was sprung by an active backchecking effort from Duclair.

Islanders center Mathew Barzal (13) in action against the Philadelphia Flyers in the second period at Xfinity Mobile Arena. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Flyers didn’t come up with much as far as a potential comeback, and Pageau’s second goal of the night made it a 4-0 game at 13:38 of the third. Maxim Tsyplakov’s feed off the wall to set up Pageau was just his second point and first assist of the year.

The reunited fourth line of Marc Gatcomb, Cizikas and Kyle MacLean did its usual good work, while Emil Heineman and Bo Horvat clicked well on the second line. Max Shabanov got better alongside them as the game went on, as did Tsyplakov with Pageau and Anders Lee. The Islanders will hope that Tsyplakov — filling in for Holmstrom, who was a late scratch with illness — gets a much-needed confidence boost from putting a point on the board.

“That’s one of his best games this year,” Roy told reporters of Tsyplakov. “… Might not be easy at times, but he played really well.”

Sorokin, for once, was not under fire all night. His sixth shutout of the year required just 21 saves for comparatively little stress.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin (30) makes a save against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first period at Xfinity Mobile Arena. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On the ice from Long Island

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The injuries are starting to pile up for the Islanders, who pulled the trigger on reinforcements in the form of Carson Soucy. The Islanders officially announced the deal after the game which sent a 2026 third-round pick down 495 and across the East River to the Rangers in exchange for the left-handed defenseman.

If Pulock’s upper-body injury has him miss serious time, though, Soucy won’t be enough. And Ritchie, who was called day to day with a lower-body injury, is suddenly a concern as well.

The way everything was piling up, a loss Monday would have felt like a crisis point in the season.

Turning in an all-around performance and a commanding win over the team directly below them in the standings instead was certainly a good way to take the pressure off.

“I thought we had a really good process,” Tony DeAngelo told reporters. “That’s how you win games: process. It was probably our best 60-minute game from start to finish in a little while here.”