Barring a historic collapse, the Islanders are going to have at least two playoff games at Barclays Center this spring. And following their awfully hard-to-watch 2-1 shootout win over the Hurricanes there on Tuesday night, the evaluation of the ice was scathing, coming from the lone shooter who scored in the three-round skills competition, Kyle Okposo.

“Awful,” Okposo said, pulling no punches in his cutting criticism after his forehand juke beat Cam Ward in the first round of the shootout. “Can’t have it like that. It’s got to change. It’s got to be better than that.”

It’s been a difficult transition into their new urban home for the Islanders (41-25-9), and the people who run this swirling hunk of rustic metal on Atlantic Avenue are sincerely trying to make hockey work as they learn on the fly. But if this is the way the ice is when the high temperature outside was still in the mid-50s, imagine what it will be like if the Islanders are still playing in mid-May? Imagine if the building gets hot and stuffed with Rangers fans for that coveted East River Rivalry?

“Early stages, kind of felt like one of the preseason games out there,” Okposo said, as the puck bounced around all night like a racquetball on a Brooklyn blacktop, pretty much nullifying the Islanders’ speed and skill, their two biggest assets. “It wasn’t very good.”

So it was gross-looking, but goalie Thomas Greiss (26 saves) managed to hold on for the victory which allowed the Isles to keep pace with the Penguins, who won a shootout of their own against the Sabres and continued to hold that three-point lead for third place in the Metropolitan Division, with the Isles having one game in hand.

But this could have been a very tough loss to swallow, as the Hurricanes (33-28-16) went up 1-0 at 18:31 of the second period on a sharp-angle goal from Derek Ryan that came after a putrid turnover from Josh Bailey.

“We always want to play high-percentage hockey, and I think we had some turnovers through the middle of the ice that weren’t characteristic,” said coach Jack Capuano. “But when [the ice] does get bad like that — and it was a little sloppy out there tonight — you want to make sure you make the simple play.”

With the Isles second power-play chance of the third period, it was a simple shot from the high slot from John Tavares that was deflected in by the struggling Anders Lee for one of those “greasy” goals, tying it 1-1 with just under eight minutes left. From there, it was more offensive futility from both teams, all the way through the 3-on-3 extra frame — played like both teams wanted to get to the shootout.

That’s when Okposo was the only one to score, an apt way to end an ugly night.

“It’s a big win for us,” Capuano said. “We need points in the games that we play to try to get into the dance and go where we want to go.”

Even if that’s back at Barclays, to the sloppy ice that inhabits their new home.