The Islanders took a circuitous path to the NHL’s Christmas break, but they’ve ended up in about nearly as good a destination as they may have hoped.
Sole possession of second place, with their playoff probabilities looking pretty good even in a decent Metropolitan Division, is a wonderful place to be for a team that spent all of last season fighting for a wild-card berth and was projected to do the identical this time around.
With a 16-8-9 record, the Islanders have lost more games than they’ve won.
But they’ve found one of the best version of themselves recently, collecting points in 17 of their last 19 games and putting together a superb few weeks heading into the vacations.
There remains to be a whole lot of time left, however the Islanders can start dreaming of home-ice advantage in the primary round, and possibly even beating the rival Rangers — currently ahead of them by six points — to the Metropolitan Division crown.
The Post recaps the pre-holiday portion of the schedule.
Best win: 3-2 over the Kings on Dec. 9
Just 4 nights faraway from blowing a late lead in spectacular fashion, and throwing into doubt the progress they appeared to make over the prior couple weeks, the Islanders fought back within the third period to beat top-of-the-line teams within the league.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau got here up with the extra time winner after Anders Lee’s pair of goals tied it within the third period, and the Islanders ended up getting their second of 4 straight wins at home.
Worst loss: 5-4 against the Sharks on Dec. 5
The best way the Islanders recovered from this loss blunts its impact a bit.
But allowing three straight goals within the third period at home to blow a 4-1 lead against a team with the worst points percentage within the league is tough to beat.
The Islanders have lost a whole lot of games in spectacular fashion, but none have been worse than this one, with William Eklund’s extra time winner providing the death blow.
Surprise impactful player: Simon Holmstrom
Already in 32 games, Holmstrom has easily surpassed his scoring output in 50 games last season.
As a rookie, he struggled to make an impact within the offensive zone, with the selling point of his game being responsible two-way play.
This 12 months, Holmstrom has shown off high-end shooting ability — his shooting percentage of 30.3 leads the league — and developed a penchant for shorthanded goals, with five already.
He’s quickly change into a key a part of the on a regular basis lineup for the Islanders, in addition to their future.
MVP: Noah Dobson
There’s no argument here.
Dobson is eating minutes to the tune of 25:46 an evening, coping with the hardest matchups and averaging over a degree per game.
The Islanders simply wouldn’t have survived their spate of injuries on the back end — Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Sebastian Aho have all frolicked on IR, with the primary three all out right away — without Dobson.
On his current pace, Dobson isn’t just contending for the Norris, but putting together one of the best season for an Islanders’ defenseman since Denis Potvin.
Developing story: Zach Parise’s return
Parise has been skating on his own in Minneapolis for a while now and recently ramped up his training.
It’s not clear when he plans to make a call on whether to return to the NHL, but expectation is beginning to coalesce around a return.
If that’s indeed the direction he goes — and if, as expected, he comes back to the Islanders — it might be an incredible story with real fallout for an Islanders team that already has to make tough decisions on who to play every night.
It will also probably help them, on condition that Parise scored 21 goals last season at age 38.
The Islanders took a circuitous path to the NHL’s Christmas break, but they’ve ended up in about nearly as good a destination as they may have hoped.
Sole possession of second place, with their playoff probabilities looking pretty good even in a decent Metropolitan Division, is a wonderful place to be for a team that spent all of last season fighting for a wild-card berth and was projected to do the identical this time around.
With a 16-8-9 record, the Islanders have lost more games than they’ve won.
But they’ve found one of the best version of themselves recently, collecting points in 17 of their last 19 games and putting together a superb few weeks heading into the vacations.
There remains to be a whole lot of time left, however the Islanders can start dreaming of home-ice advantage in the primary round, and possibly even beating the rival Rangers — currently ahead of them by six points — to the Metropolitan Division crown.
The Post recaps the pre-holiday portion of the schedule.
Best win: 3-2 over the Kings on Dec. 9
Just 4 nights faraway from blowing a late lead in spectacular fashion, and throwing into doubt the progress they appeared to make over the prior couple weeks, the Islanders fought back within the third period to beat top-of-the-line teams within the league.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau got here up with the extra time winner after Anders Lee’s pair of goals tied it within the third period, and the Islanders ended up getting their second of 4 straight wins at home.
Worst loss: 5-4 against the Sharks on Dec. 5
The best way the Islanders recovered from this loss blunts its impact a bit.
But allowing three straight goals within the third period at home to blow a 4-1 lead against a team with the worst points percentage within the league is tough to beat.
The Islanders have lost a whole lot of games in spectacular fashion, but none have been worse than this one, with William Eklund’s extra time winner providing the death blow.
Surprise impactful player: Simon Holmstrom
Already in 32 games, Holmstrom has easily surpassed his scoring output in 50 games last season.
As a rookie, he struggled to make an impact within the offensive zone, with the selling point of his game being responsible two-way play.
This 12 months, Holmstrom has shown off high-end shooting ability — his shooting percentage of 30.3 leads the league — and developed a penchant for shorthanded goals, with five already.
He’s quickly change into a key a part of the on a regular basis lineup for the Islanders, in addition to their future.
MVP: Noah Dobson
There’s no argument here.
Dobson is eating minutes to the tune of 25:46 an evening, coping with the hardest matchups and averaging over a degree per game.
The Islanders simply wouldn’t have survived their spate of injuries on the back end — Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Sebastian Aho have all frolicked on IR, with the primary three all out right away — without Dobson.
On his current pace, Dobson isn’t just contending for the Norris, but putting together one of the best season for an Islanders’ defenseman since Denis Potvin.
Developing story: Zach Parise’s return
Parise has been skating on his own in Minneapolis for a while now and recently ramped up his training.
It’s not clear when he plans to make a call on whether to return to the NHL, but expectation is beginning to coalesce around a return.
If that’s indeed the direction he goes — and if, as expected, he comes back to the Islanders — it might be an incredible story with real fallout for an Islanders team that already has to make tough decisions on who to play every night.
It will also probably help them, on condition that Parise scored 21 goals last season at age 38.
