With the team in the thick of the playoff hunt, Islanders GM Mathieu Darche continually expressed his desire to “reward” his players in the weeks leading up to the NHL trade deadline.

Darche made some veteran additions ahead of the Olympic break, but the biggest splash came just ahead of Friday’s cut-off, as he landed Brayden Schenn in a deal with the Blues.

Schenn is a piece Darche feels fits perfectly into what this team was looking for.

“We always say that we want to be hard to play against, we have to have some snarl,” he said. “Brayden fits that -- you should see some of the texts we’ve got from players that had been with him -- the type of player he is, he’s a playoff guy.

“He plays hard, if something happens, he’s not afraid to defend a teammate. He’s scored 20 goals multiple times, we just feel that he’s going to help us down the middle and give us a lot of flexibility -- he fits exactly what we need right now.”

The 34-year-old felt some nerves skating with a new team for the first time in a long time Saturday night, but he’s excited to be joining the high-flying Isles down the stretch.

Schenn finished with a hit, a shot on goal, and a blocked shot in 17 minutes of ice time.

“Do I think I had my A-game out there? No,” Schenn said. “But I tried to buy into the teams system and just do whatever they asked me to do -- I feel like I have a little more offensively to give, but at the same time, I feel happy to be part of a win.

“This is a special group where you could tell there’s a belief in this room, and it’s just a group of guys who are pushing really hard for the playoffs.”

New York has now won six of their last 10 following Saturday’s overtime victory in San Jose, and they remain in second place in the Metropolitan Division.

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