The Islanders clinched an Eastern Conference playoff spot despite a 4-3 shootout loss to the Hurricanes on Tuesday night. With the point they received by reaching overtime, coupled with a loss by the Winnipeg Jets at Washington, the Islanders secured a place in the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

“We got the point, and we secured our spot,” defenseman Andrew MacDonald said, “so we couldn’t be happier.”

John Tavares scored the goal that effectively sent them to the postseason, tying it with 1:01 left in regulation.

“We got our game going, and we got contributions from everybody and started to figure out what it takes to win,” Tavares said, reflecting on the season. “And you know we’re happy to be there and give ourselves an opportunity to compete in the playoffs. A lot of us haven’t had that experience.”

Josh Bailey and Brad Boyes also scored, and Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves for the Islanders.

Riley Nash and Jeff Skinner scored in the shootout to give the Hurricanes the victory. Nash’s score came on his first career shootout attempt and only came about because coach Kirk Muller caught him showing off some moves during the morning skate.

“We just winged it, to be honest with you,” Muller said. “He had a couple good moves and, you know what, let’s see if he can do it in the game. … If I didn’t see him do it this morning, we probably wouldn’t have opted to do it.”

Carolina’s Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist, Patrick Dwyer and Alexander Semin added goals, and Dan Ellis made 36 saves before stopping Frans Nielsen and Boyes in the shootout.

Nash and Skinner beat Nabokov with wrist shots in the shootout to help the Hurricanes sweep the soon-to-be division rival Islanders and earn their first consecutive wins since March 9-12.

“We’re starting to find our identity, and that’s important going into next year,” Ellis said. “For us to come up with big games against teams that are going to be in our division next year, it was a great effort. We really started to get our work boots on, play a smarter brand of hockey and we did really well tonight and got a big win.”

In earning a point for the 11th straight game, the Islanders (8-0-3 in April) wiped out three one-goal deficits — and the last came in dramatic fashion.

“It wasn’t our best game, but we found a way to get a big one late and get the point that we needed,” Bailey said.

Tavares made it 3-3 when his shot clicked off Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk’s skate and past Ellis. The goal originally was awarded to Kyle Okposo, but a review determined that he never touched the puck. Okposo finished with two assists.

Before that, the Hurricanes thought their third victory over the Islanders was firmly in hand.

Carolina went up 3-2 with 2:15 left in the second when Dwyer snapped a loose puck past Nabokov — the third in a series of short-lived leads for the Hurricanes.

Staal and Semin also put them up briefly, only to have the Islanders respond with tying goals. Staal made it 2-1 by scoring on a redirection with 3:40 left in the first, and Semin scored the first goal off a pretty give-and-go-feed from Eric Staal.

But Bailey and Boyes each erased those deficits. Bailey’s goal came on a rebound and made it 2-2 at 7:34 of the second. Boyes forged the first tie at 6:04 of the first when Mark Streit’s cross-ice pass clicked off his skate and past Ellis.

Game notes

New York C Keith Aucoin hit the crossbar on a breakaway about 4 1/2 minutes in. Michael Grabner struck the right post with about 3 minutes left in overtime. … Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu drilled the right post against an open net with about 12 1/2 minutes left. … Hurricanes C Jiri Tlusty, who assisted on Staal’s goal, has points in six straight games.

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Tlusty scored twice, Semin had a goal and two assists and Staal chipped in with a pair of assists — all in the first period — to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night.

Dan Ellis stopped 34 shots to make a 3-0 lead stand up and help Carolina to its first win over Tampa Bay this season.

“We came out hard, and that was the difference in the first period,” Tlusty said. “We kept it going throughout the game.”

Semin scored for Carolina 16 seconds in, taking a feed in the slot from Staal and whipping it over the shoulder of Lightning goalie Anders Lindback.

Tlusty’s first goal came shortly after the Hurricanes failed to score on a power play when he dumped the puck on goal from inside the blue line and it bounced off of Lindback’s pads and into the back of the net.

Later in the period, Tlusty was stationed in front of the net and was in the perfect position to direct a deflection off of Staal’s shot past Lindback.

“I don’t know what the problem is with us in first periods,” said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. “We always battle back hard from being down in games, which is the good part, but we would rather be up a few goals in the first instead of behind.”

The Lightning, who lost their sixth straight game, got on the board with a power-play goal from Steven Stamkos in the second period — his 28th goal of the season.

Martin St. Louis added a third-period goal to narrow the deficit to 3-2 but Ellis turned away the final 12 shots he faced, including point-blank opportunities by Eric Brewer, Ryan Malone and B.J. Crombeen.

“(Ellis) stepped up and had a good, strong game,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. “That’s what you need from him. His performance was good.

“They’ve had our number recently, but I think it was just important to us because we had a tough game last night and the guys have been playing so hard through the stretch. We got off track last night and we wanted to get back on track tonight and do the right things and we did.”

With less than 20 seconds left, the Lightning pulled Lindback and created a lot of traffic in front of Ellis but could not tie the game.

“I have gotten lit up by this team forever so this was a good night,” Ellis said. “They play with a lot of pride and so do we. We are not pushing for playoff spots but we are pushing to honor our fans, honor the crest on our jersey.”

St. Louis got his league-leading 42nd assist on Stamkos’ goal and his 55 points are only one behind injured Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby for the league lead.

Game notes

Staal thought he had a goal in the second period but officials declared his shot deflected off Brewer’s skate but did not completely cross the goal line. A video review upheld the call. … In their previous four contests this season, the Lightning outscored the Hurricanes 18-4. … Semin has 31 assists this season. … The Lightning outshot the Hurricanes 16-4 in the third period.

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