After a busy off-season, including the hiring of Mathieu Darche as SVP and General Manager along with drafting Matthew Schaefer first overall, there was a lot of optimism around the Islanders heading into the season. But, an 0-3 start caused the pin to be placed in the balloon of optimism and there were many who wondered if the season was going to spiral out of control.
However, the smiles have returned as the Islanders have reeled off four straight wins including Thursday night’s 7-2 thrashing of the Red Wings at UBS Arena.
“It was our more complete game of the year,” said Islanders Captain Anders Lee. “Like all of the facts of our game, we worked off one another and we were good in the D zone so our breakouts were better which led to offense so I think everything kind of clicked.”
It was the type of game that the Islanders and their fans have been waiting for…a combination of finding the back of the net offensively while limited the chances for the opposition on the defensive end. While the Islanders found ways to win games to get back to .500, the blowout victory over Detroit signals that the Islanders are starting to follow their blueprint for success.
“We’re talking a lot about cutting the slot chances against,” said Head Coach Patrick Roy. “But when you look at the statistics and analytics, you realize that we’re one or two chances away from being in the middle of the pack. I think we’re going to cut down on a lot of chances. When we defend, we do pretty well.”
Even in the three losses, the Islanders showed flashes of being a fun team to watch as they were creating a lot of offensive chances, but there were breakdowns defensively. Slowly but surely, the Islanders are starting to eliminate some of those miscues in their own end and a strong defensive play has led to instant offense on the other end.
“Happy with the way we’re playing,” said forward Emil Heineman who scored two goals on Thursday night and now has five on the season. “(We’re) starting to create some chemistry too so it’s nice. It’s a good mix. I think we’re bringing a lot of different elements out there. We’re creating a lot for each other and working really hard out there too.”
The Islanders will now take their four-game winning streak on a four-game road trip that will begin Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. The excursion away from UBS Arena will also take the Islanders to Boston, Carolina and Washington, three more good tests before the Islanders return home a week from Sunday against Columbus.
The Islanders will gladly take points anyway they can get them, but they are happy that they’re starting to accomplish what they were hoping for on both ends of the ice.
“We’ve been winning so it doesn’t matter how you do it,” said defenseman Tony DeAngelo. “But eventually you want to get to what you’re trying to do. It’s great, especially when you start off 0-3 and now, you’re back over the .500 line and you can take off from here so hopefully we can keep this going and keep the winning ways.”
It’s been a roller coaster of emotions for the Islanders from the off-season through training camp and over the first seven games of the regular season. Now, the Islanders are hoping that they have found there way and that they can continue winning games and making some noise in the Metropolitan Division.