In what has turned out to be an unexpected bye week for the New York Islanders, the team has been hard at work, practicing what has continued to be one of the team’s Achilles heels during their rocky 3-4-2 start: the power play.
Depending on which side of the Twitter faction you belong to, the Islanders are either three points out of a playoff spot with a game in hand, or in last place after the New York Rangers defeated the Washington Capitals Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. Either way, the offensive woes that now stretch back many years are not going away magically. And nobody is coming in to help, either.
Only the Anaheim Ducks have scored less than the 19 goals the Isles have netted in nine games, which makes special teams all that more special. New York’s annually struggling power play is 6-for-38, 25th in the league. In this week’s Zoom conference calls, the talk has been about just that: working out the kinks to give the team an actual man advantage.
Head coach Barry Trotz wants his players to stop being too fancy, something we’ve seen all too much and become familiar with.
"If I said, ‘OK, I’m just going to put five guys on the ice against their four, let’s go score, keep attacking the net,’ we’d probably have more success doing that," Trotz told Newsday on Wednesday. "Sometimes the skill players, they want to get fancy, they want to set up, they want to slow it down, they want to be artistic."
The coach continued, saying he reckons they have the players to get it done, although there will surely be a healthy population who disagrees.
"I think we have the personnel," Trotz said. "People will say, you take all your best players and load it up. To me, it’s about mentality. It’s execution and mentality. Sometimes, we’ll have good entries and we’ll move it around and they refuse to shoot it. Or we slow it down so the penalty killers get set up."
It’s time to stop beating the drum about Mike Hoffman, a power play maven and someone who was well within the grasp of team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello. Hoffman is in St. Louis and the Islanders have who they have, are what they are. With games coming up against the Pittsburgh Penguins (twice) and the suddenly balmy New York Rangers, the Islanders need to man up. In a shortened 56-game season, it gets late quickly.
The season is already 16 percent down and the Islanders appear more like the team that limped to the pause last season than the one who reached the Eastern Conference Final.
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Trotz this week also discussed wanting to find some stability in his lineup. The Islanders have some young players with impressive offensive pedigrees. However, it’s extremely difficult to know if that can translate to the NHL level without giving them a legitimate chance to prove themselves. Look at the even strength ice time allotment below and see if you can spot what I’m seeing.
Cal Clutterbuck: 11:49
Casey Cizikas: 11:38
Leo Komarov: 11:22 (3 games)
Matt Martin: 10:21
Kieffer Bellows: 9:34
Michael Dal Colle: 9:44 (2 games)
Oliver Wahlstrom: 8:41 (2 games)
Ross Johnston: 8:28
The fourth line has been an effective unit when they’ve played together over the past couple of seasons, but this year has no edge to their game. They simply are not generating the momentum shifts that are a necessary element to offset their offensive deficiencies. Komarov is averaging almost two to three minutes more at even strength than the players you drafted to provide an offensive spark, and Wahlstrom is barely edging Johnston.
It’s unjustifiable to question what Bellows, Wahlstrom, and even Dal Colle could bring to this team offensively, as they simply are not getting enough time to accurately judge. The Philadelphia Flyers benched their leading goal scorer, Thomas Konecky, last week. The Islanders have simply gotten nothing so far out of Brock Nelson, Josh Bailey, or Anthony Beauvillier, even before his injury. While Mathew Barzal is motoring, Anders Lee has been fine, and Jordan Eberle simply meh. Yet, the kids continue to get ‘sheltered’ minutes.
Let ‘em play, coach.
Follow Andy Graziano on Twitter: @AndyGraz_WFAN
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