After a 4-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks, the New York Islanders find themselves on a four-game winning streak and have points in 13 of their last 14 games. It’s secured themselves second in the Metropolitan Division at the moment, and they’re starting to build a little bit of a cushion as the rest of the division struggles to be consistent.
Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk talked on Daily Faceoff Live about the Islander’s recent streak and if they’re ready to believe in this team.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Not only are some of their big guns up front scoring, but over their last five games, every forward line has contributed at least 3+ goals in that stretch, and they’re doing it with a banged-up blueline too.
I don’t know, there’s a lot going right for this Islanders team, and I don’t know if I quite fully believe in them, but damn it, they’re making it hard to make a case against them.
Frank Seravalli: Well, if you don’t believe in them, and I’m entirely certain that I believe in them, that doesn’t really matter. The fact is, they clearly believe in them if you listen to them talk after games. They’re in this, and it’s a subtle add, but you add someone like Robert Bortuzzo on the backend with all the injuries that they’ve had, the veteran status, having won a Stanley Cup, been a part of really good St. Louis Blues teams, just comes in for a nothing price and kind of changes the mix of your blueline, changes the mix of your team.
Not saying that that’s a big reason why they’ve won four straight, but I think this Islanders team, if they can defend well enough, which they have done a pretty good job and they continue to get bailed out by their goaltenders, who I’d say if they’re not the number two, then they’re definitely the number 3 best tandem in the league with how well Varlamov is playing at this stage of his career, and Sorokin has really found himself.
They just need to score more, and that’s the one big concern I have is how top-heavy this Islanders team is in terms of point production and goals. Dobson has had a monster season, Mat Barzal has had arguably the best season of his career to this point, but once you get past those top three, four, five Islander scorers, things really fall off in a hurry.
Tyler Yaremchuk: David Wilson in the chat says “Just imagine if Horvat heats up a little bit”. Sure, that would help, but it wouldn’t really address the issue, which again is bottom six scoring. I know I brought up the stat of 3+ goals for each of these lines in the last five games, but Simon Holmstrom isn’t popping home four shorties over a 12 game stretch all that often. There is a little bit of it that feels just a hair unsustainable.
Frank Seravalli: Yeah, and that part is certainly concerning, but with the Metro and the East standings in general, it’s kind of wide open.
You can watch the full episode here…
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