There was more exhaustion than exhilaration, as much a sense of relief as a sense of accomplishment.
The Islanders had just finished the second-longest game in franchise history — the longest game nearly every player in the visitor’s locker room at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., had been a part of — and knew how easily the Panthers could have been in control of their first-round playoff series.
It had taken so long to get just one victory, and so much for the Islanders to claim that 3-2 series lead — following a double-overtime Game 5 thriller — that getting just one more win never seemed less simple.
Especially for a team looking to end the league’s longest drought and come away with its first playoff series win in 23 years.
“It still feels like it’s a long ways away,” said veteran Frans Nielsen, the longest-tenured Islander. “There’s still a lot of hockey to be played here.”
The Islanders come back to the Barclays Center on Sunday night with a chance to close out the Panthers in Game 6, holding an opportunity to clinch a playoff series at home for the first time since Dale Hunter attempted to decapitate Pierre Turgeon at Nassau Coliseum in 1993. It is the Islanders’ best chance to win a series since later in that improbable spring, when David Volek’s Game 7 overtime goal knocked out the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins.
The Islanders have failed to win consecutive playoff games on 12 straight occasions — dating back to 2002 — and have lost their only two opportunities in the past 23 years to return to the second round (2002, 2015), but it is the first time since then the Islanders get a chance to end it at home.
“It’s going to be fun to come home [and] we have to take advantage of it,” Nielsen said. “We had a chance last year in Game 7 [at Washington] to finish it, but this is the first time we’re going back with three wins and have a chance to close it out at home, so hopefully we’re going to come out and respond the right way.”
But the end is a long ways away.
Again, 60 minutes might not be enough against a Panthers team that has controlled the majority of play through five games. It could require more than 72 minutes, like their Game 3 win in Brooklyn. It could mean another 96, like the affair that ended early Saturday morning.
It could require another 47 saves from Thomas Greiss, the career backup who has become the breakout star of the series, the 30-year-old journeyman who as recently as March wasn’t part of the Islanders’ playoff plans.
In a series defined by one-goal games, it could require the advantage of playing in front of thousands of fans who have never seen the Islanders advance to another round, playing in the new home where they posted their best home record in 12 years.
“To me, it’s all about our fans and the atmosphere that’s going to be in that building and we have to feed off our crowd,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “That’s the big thing. We just got to come out and play a simple first 10 minutes. We haven’t had much success with the starts at home for whatever reason, but I think the guys know exactly how they have to play.
“It’s a situation where we’re not going to say too much as coaches, we’re just going to let them play within the team concept and go out and have some fun and try and close them out if we can.”
It is still a long ways away.
