The New York Islanders are on a roll as of late, going 10-0-1 in their last 11 games. They’ve leaped to the top of the East Division standings and look to be a true contender this season. But what has gone into this impressive stretch?
A key for the team recently has been their offense, which has been the team's one visible weakness over the last few seasons. New York has scored 42 goals in their last 11 games, including five games with at least five goals. Mathew Barzal, Jordan Eberle and Anders Lee have only scored 10 of those 42 goals and aside from the top line, other forwards are helping to propel the team’s offense as well. Especially with Anders Lee out indefinitely, which is a huge blow to the Islanders, other players will have to continue to step up.
After a poor start where he didn’t play much of a factor for the Islanders, Brock Nelson has six goals and eight points in the last 11 games. It’s a huge improvement from the start of the year and Nelson’s elevated performance is really helping down the middle. Oliver Wahlstrom’s progress has been eye-opening through this point streak as well, with four goals and eight points in the 11 games. Jean-Gabriel Pageau has also been very consistent for the Islanders and the likes of Nick Leddy, Ryan Pulock and Noah Dobson have been able to provide offense from the back end.
Perhaps the most unexpected contributors, however, have been the fourth line. Cal Clutterbuck did miss two games a couple of weeks ago but he, Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin have combined for seven goals during the stretch.
Defensively, the Islanders have been very strong as well. New York has allowed fewer than 25 shots on four different occasions throughout their point streak and have had at least 60 per cent of the game’s high-danger scoring chances in eight of the contests (according to NaturalStatTrick.com). Through many of the games, they’ve given their opponent very little to work with in terms of opportunities and have made teams work very hard for any of their chances.
When they have allowed scoring chances though, their goaltending has been there most of the time to bail them out. Semyon Varlamov is continuing his outstanding season, posting a .935 save percentage throughout the stretch, while the team is seeming to be getting more comfortable playing Ilya Sorokin as well.
Something also worth noting is how disciplined the team has been. They’ve taken only 24 penalties across the 11 games, averaging to just over two penalties a game. They’re staying out of the box and in the few opportunities they have given up, the team’s penalty kill has been excellent, killing off 21 of 24 opportunities during the stretch.
The Islanders are on an excellent run and other than a poor stretch early on, this has been a pretty great season for the Islanders. Especially factoring in the difficulty of the division they're playing in, and a 18-6-4 record at the midway point of the season is very impressive. A lot has gone into the team's recent success and while this streak will have to end at some point, they've shown that they're in contender territory when at their best.
NOTE: Yesterday marked two years since I started covering the New York Islanders for HockeyBuzz.com and I’d just like to thank everyone who has continued to read my writing. I haven’t been getting as many articles out over the last couple weeks as I would’ve liked but that should change soon. I’m leaning towards scrapping game previews/recaps to provide more thoughts on what’s happening throughout the season. Regardless, thanks again to everyone for reading and I’m excited to see where this team will go!
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With Anders Lee injured, should the Islanders look to trade for a forward?
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