Getting Back to the Basics Boosting Beauviller's Play

Sometimes a little change goes a long way.
Just ask Anthony Beauvillier, who has scored the Islanders' overtime game winner in back-to-back games and has goals in three-straight outings. The ecstatic smile following his goal 21 seconds into overtime in Thursday's 4-3 win over Boston says it all.

"When you have a big piece of the game, you have lots of confidence," Head Coach Barry Trotz said of Beauvillier following the win. "When you have a big positive effect on any game, you feel good about your play. You don't necessarily have to score. But if you play well - you generally know you've played well - and scoring is a bonus. As long as the team wins, that should trump anything. Your mindset should be just to play well. He's getting rewarded."

Beauvillier began his media availability on Thursday expressing that understanding. He doesn't take those weighted opportunities for granted, especially in a season like this one where every potential point matters.
"First of all, it's a privilege to be out there in overtime and to have the chance to make your team win," Beauvillier said. "It shows the trust that the coaching staff have in you. I take a lot of pride in that. I just want to do my job out there."
For the last three games, Trotz swapped Beauvillier and Michael Dal Colle on the wings, so Beauvillier is now playing on Jean-Gabriel Pageau's line alongside Oliver Wahlstrom and Dal Colle is on Brock Nelson's line with Josh Bailey.
The chance to play alongside his fellow French-Canadian teammate in Pageau and with the Islanders' blazing rookie in Wahlstrom, sparked some confidence in Beauvillier's game.
Beauvillier's first goal of his three-game streak unfolded from his urgency to chase down a puck along the boards that Wahlstrom had flipped up ice before taking a line change in Saturday night's 6-1 win against Philadelphia. With support from Nelson and Bailey, who just took the ice for their shift, Beauvillier was able to intercept an attempted clear behind the cage and then bury a pass from Nelson.
"He's got a lot of speed to his game," Wahlstrom said of Beauvillier. "I do whatever I can to win my wall battles and get the puck to him, he's just been really good for us right now. It's fun playing with the two French guys. We've got to keep going, but [Beauvillier] is hot right now. He's playing great."

With a sturdy performance in his favor and subsequent solid games, Beauvillier earned the opportunity to start in the overtime periods in Monday night's 2-1 win against the Flyers and Thursday's 4-3 comeback victory over Boston.
Both of his overtime goals have been products of using his speed to gain position and then putting the game away by going to the paint, as he did with Monday night's wraparound goal and by burying the rebound from Nick Leddy's wrist shot on Thursday night.
"I have a lot of trust in [Beauvillier] over the time he's been here," Trotz said. "I felt that he's been going lately. Him and [Pageau] were really good last night. Therefore, I felt that's where we should start. I've been with that mindset of, 'If you're going tonight or if you're finishing strong, I'm going to probably start you in the 3-on-3.'"
While Beauvillier's game is trending in a positive direction - with his four points (3G, 1A) in three games and 10 points (5G, 5A) this season - he's executing a balance between being committed to fulfilling his role and earning offensive contributions. It took an honest reminder for him to get there and overcoming some early-season adversity.
The 23-year-old winger was sidelined early on for nine-consecutive games from Jan. 24 to Feb. 16 with a lower-body injury, in what was his first real ailment that kept him out of the lineup and forced him into the solitude of solo rehab.
And since he rejoined the team, Beauvillier had, at times, deviated from his game and the detailed process that Trotz preached, which resulted in returning to some of his old mental habits of associating his personal success with how many points he was producing. Fortunately, a few constructive conversations took place.

"Just clearing my head a little bit," Beauvillier said. "I had some good chats with Barry and the coaching staff. It's not only about the goals, it's about helping the team to win games. It doesn't matter if I get on the scoresheet or not it's just about doing the right things for my teammates."
The goals are always a welcomed plus, but the fulfillment of helping your team reach success through hard work even when it's grueling or not so glamorous, means so much more.
"He's just playing on the puck with a little more weight and not worrying necessarily about scoring," Trotz said. "It's amazing when you're just playing hard and doing all of the right things, that you get rewarded. It's important. It galvanizes the thought process and the feeling for sure."