ELMONT, N.Y. – Could it be?

Is it finally their time?

After four straight seasons of floundering between first-round playoff exits and missing the postseason all together, the New York Islanders once again seem to be making their case as the best team that calls the Empire State home.

It is, most certainly, not the seemingly perpetually-hopeless Buffalo Sabres, who haven’t won a playoff round since 2007 and haven’t played playoff hockey at all in 14 years.

And, perhaps surprisingly, it no longer seems to be the New York Rangers, whose 0-4-1 start at home is cause for significant concern coming off a season in which they too missed the postseason entirely.

That’s not to say that the Islanders have reclaimed the crown by default, however. Thursday night’s 7-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings at UBS Arena was something of a statement, a blueprint of how things could and should look out on the Island as far as how to play a 200-foot game for 60 minutes.

“I think it was our most complete game of the year for sure,” said Islanders captain Anders Lee, who recorded three assists in the blowout win. “Then I think all of the facets of our game worked off of one another; we were good in the D zone, so breakouts were better, which led to offense and stuff like that. I think everything kind of clicked.”

No longer under the heavy hand of veteran general manager Lou Lamoriello, the Islanders appear to finally be flourishing both on and off the ice — a franchise that was just awarded the 2027 NHL All-Star Game is now also able to market some of their star players far better than they were seemingly allowed to in previous years — and have another appointment-viewing franchise cornerstone-type player in this year’s first overall pick, defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who had a six-game points-scoring streak snapped in the big win over Detroit.

The Islanders are hot once again, having scored 27 goals through their first seven games of the season, only the third time they’ve reached that plateau in 24 years.  A lot of their success, at least on Thursday, however, was marked by their ability to defend.

Backup goaltender David Rittich saw few quality chances against him in making 30 saves to cruise to a relatively easy win, and there was a lot for head coach Patrick Roy to like on a night where 12 different players recorded at least one point.

“Very pleased,” he said. “We had a lot of guys that played really well; Rittich was outstanding, he made some great saves, made things look easy at times. I think our captain (Lee) was a beast out there and played hard, had a strong game. (Simon) Holmstrom had a really good game; stepping up to that line, I thought he was really good…I love his puck protection, he was skating well. Tony DeAngelo, the players named him the player of the game, he had a strong game and scored a nice goal. I thought he played like the Tony of last year, so it was nice to see that. I could go on and on, but if I keep going, (the media) won’t have any questions for me.”

One big one remains, however. Is the early success sustainable?

Only time will tell, but for now at least, the Islanders have established themselves as the early must-watch team in the area.