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 goals on Ryan Pulock's blast from the right point just 4:03 into the third.
A second power-play goal from Winnipeg -- this one from Nikolaj Ehlers -- pulled them back within 3-2 as Ehlers used a nifty move in the crease to beat Ilya Sorokin.
This, however, would not be a moment the Islanders allowed to spiral.
On Tuesday, at least, they would make sure what might be the last game of this core was the sort that defined it: a 3-2 win, with the lead locked down in the third period.
Nelson and Palmieri had their moments early on. Nelson fed Palmieri for a power-play goal 16:49 into the first, putting the Isles up 1-0.
Then 1:33 into the second, Nelson got on the board by finishing a cross-crease feed from Max Tsyplakov.
Good as it was for the Islanders to notch two points on Tuesday, though, there is still plenty of uncertainty to sort through between now and Friday.
Little as one win changes things in the grand scheme of a 61-game sample size, if management wants a reason to stand pat, then perhaps this offered one, however flimsy.
Given how stubbornly the Islanders have stood by this core in the past, that cannot be ruled out.