The struggling Islanders get their Sabers to a much-needed win

The Islanders needed this, but more than that: they needed this this way.

They needed to maintain the lead in the third period, something they have failed to do in five of the last seven games, and they needed the special teams to be successful after Patrick Roy called the power play “terrible” for just over 24 hours prior in Washington.

They had to overcome those double logjams that had held them back all season, and they had to do that yesterday.

After Saturday’s 3-0 win over the Sabres, in which the Islanders – finally – jumped through the most rudimentary of basketball hoops, no one is worried anymore.

Everyone should remember that they did the same thing against the Blues a week ago before falling back into the same pitfalls.

A season change cannot happen in one night.

The Islanders are now 9-10-6, still one game under NHL-.500, still out of a playoff spot and still having lost seven more games than they have won.

Nevertheless, at least they don’t spend Sunday thinking about another blown lead. And you can’t start accumulating wins without getting one.

Special teams is the main headline, but the big deal here is the third period, where the Islanders took a 2-0 lead after just blowing a 4-2 game to the Capitals on Friday.

That was the mental hurdle for a club that had come into the game quite decently in the first 40 minutes, despite an 11/7 lineup without Jean-Gabriel Pageau (lower body) or Pierre Engvall, who they made an example of in the form of one healthy scratch.

The islanders didn’t do anything special, but that wasn’t the night for them. They were behind in the number of shots and the number of high-danger chances, but who cares? Could they have a head start?

The mood began to change after Bo Horvat took the Islanders’ now-standard penalty in the third period, which the Islanders not only converted, but didn’t appear to be behind at all.

But with the puck falling off Brock Nelson’s stick with less than 10 minutes left and a sure chance to extend the lead to three, it was hard not to feel like this could be going in the wrong direction.

However, the mood was dashed by flawless play in the final three minutes of five-on-six play – something that has been a rarity over the last year and changes – and ended with Simon Holmstrom’s scoreless goal, Ilya Sorokin’s first Shutout in the game secured the season.

It won’t go unnoticed that it was the power play – which has been a momentum-generating tool over the last few weeks – that finally woke up the offense when Anders Lee deflected Kyle Palmieri’s pass into the goal area: 23 of the second.

Two minutes later, it was Lee who fed Simon Holmstrom in a two-on-one rush to make it 2-0.

And moments later, the Islanders took a successful penalty kill and held Buffalo without a shot for two minutes after Noah Dobson shot the puck over the glass.

No one misses how shorthanded the Islanders are when assessing their current route.

In fact, it’s even more important for them to perform on special teams when the players normally relied on in five-on-five systems – Pageau, Mat Barzal, Adam Pelech, Anthony Duclair – are on the reserve bench .

If the Special Forces are a one-game anomaly, they’ll be back in the same mess sooner rather than later.

But at least the Islanders can talk about a win.