Thoughts and Observations from the Islanders 6-1-0 Road Trip

There was a lot to like from the New York Islanders’ recent road trip, which saw them go 6-1-0 on a seven-game gauntlet.

They picked up 12 of a possible 14 points and that has them tied with the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars for the most points in the NHL since Nov. 8

Points are points – and while the old adage is they don’t ask how, the how may be worth looking into a little bit, as the Isles beat top-flight competition on the road.

The Dallas Stars had won five straight games before the Isles scored a 3-2 win on Tuesday. The Utah Mammoth were 5-1-0 at home prior to the Isles 3-2 OT win. The Isles were also the first team to beat New Jersey on home ice, snapping the Devils’ seven-game home winning streak with a 3-2 OT win that was four seconds away from being a regulation victory. The Detroit Red Wings led – and are still leading – the Atlantic Division, despite a 5-0 drubbing by the Isles. New York has now beat Detroit 12-2 over their two meetings this season.

Five of the Islanders seven opponents were in a playoff position when the teams met.

While the New York Rangers were not in a playoff position and had struggled on home ice to start the year, this was a team that beat the Islanders four times last season by a combined score of 23-5. A 5-0 Isles win was about as far a cry from last year as you could hope for.

- The wins, always great, but if you ask Patrick Roy, maybe the best game the Islanders played was the one they didn’t win – a 4-1 loss to the league-leading Avalanche. The 4-1 final is a little inflated, as it was a 2-1 game prior to an empty-netter and an extra insurance goal from former Islander Brock Nelson in the final minute.

The Isles hung tough with the Avs, keeping their big guns in relative check. Consider that Nathan MacKinnon – the NHL’s leading scorer – has points in 12 of his last 13 games. The one game he did not record a point in was against the Isles. Credit to Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood for doing the same to New York in a game the Isles certainly could have won.

- Seventeen (17!) different Islanders recorded a point on the seven-game road trip, while 10 different Islanders scored a goal. Six different Islanders scored game-winning goals. Contributions up and down the lineup.

- In total, the Isles scored 24 goals on the trip, with 17 coming at even strength (14 came at five-on-five, one at four-on-four and two at three-on-three). The Isles scored three on the power play and one in an extra-attacker situation. Two came on the penalty kill – and one into an empty net.

- Bo Horvat led the Isles with nine points (5G, 4A) on the road trip. Horvat’s on a heater, with points in 10 of his last 11 games. His 14 goals are tied for second in the NHL with Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl and Boston’s Morgan Geekie, just two back of MacKinnon. Horvat averaged 2:10 SH TOI/GP and 3:27 PP TOI/GP on the road trip and won 53.7% of his draws – a well-rounded stat line for the center who Roy said should be on Team Canada’s Olympic radar.

Shoutout to his linemates as well, as both Emil Heineman and Kyle Palmieri finished the trip with six points apiece. The line is playing straight-line hockey and it’s paying off.

- Mathew Barzal tied Horvat for the team-lead in shots (21) and scored three goals on the trip. He’s up to six goals through 20 games, which equaled his output in an injury-shortened 30-game season last year. Always a dangerous passer, it’s good to see Barzal looking towards the net as well.

- Both Ilya Sorokin and David Rittich stepped up on the road trip. Sorokin went 4-1-0 with a 1.59 GAA, a .948 SV% and two shutouts while Rittich went 2-0-0 with a 1.97 GAA and a .925 SV%. Sorokin is dialed in, shaking off a 3-4-2 start that saw his GAA at 3.33 and his SV% at .879, looking calm and confident, challenging shooters and coming up big when needed. Rittich deserves credit too, taking on the back-to-back in Utah – and keeping the Isles afloat in an early Mammoth surge – and holding steady in wild ending in Dallas.

- The Isles allowed 13 total goals on the trip, including one into an empty net – and only seven at five-on-five.

- The Islanders penalty kill played a big role in the team’s road trip, killing off 22-of-24 shorthanded situations (91.7%). The PK percentage ranks fourth in the NHL since Nov. 8, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The Islanders also scored a pair of shorthanded goals, making them one of two team (LA being the other) with an even shorthanded goal differential over that span.

Both shorthanded goals held up as game-winners. JG Pageau’s shorthanded OT winner – just the second in team history – was a bit of a unicorn, but a tremendous individual effort to win a defensive zone draw, rush the puck up the ice and score. Palmieri’s was a little more traditional, with good pressure from Casey Cizikas, Scott Mayfield and Alexander Romanov causing a turnover on a Dallas Stars zone entry, leading to an odd-man rush. The Isles wanted it more on that play, taking advantage of Roope Hintz watching the play and not immediately popping up after getting tangled up with Cizikas. Considering the Isles PK struggles last year, it’s been a remarkable turnaround for the Isles, who also held Colorado and Dallas’ lethal power plays off the board.

- When the games got tight, the Isles stayed loose, winning three straight games in OT through Jersey, Vegas and Utah. The Isles didn’t sag when allowing a late tying goal to the Devils, with Jonathan Drouin and Barzal hooking up for a beauty. Matthew Schaefer became the youngest player in NHL history to score an OT winner, adding another early milestone in a career that will feature many. They didn’t get flustered in the early goings against Utah, or when Vegas scored three straight before Barzal tied the game late. They also held firm during Dallas’ late push and kept their composure after an ugly hit on Romanov.

- Roy gets the final word on the trip – saying the Isles played with “clarity” and “presence” aka – they’ve seen the way they can play and the results that follow.

“What we see is clarity,” Roy said. “We know if we play the way we’re playing, we can win a lot of games.”