Islanders’ Mat Barzal, Anthony Duclair and Adam Pelech close to returning
The Islanders' long injury nightmare is almost over. Not one or two, but all three of Matt Barzal, Anthony Duclair and Adam Pelech joined the team for Thursday morning's skate ahead of the game against the Blackhawks, with the latter two not wearing any. He took off his orange non-contact jersey. . This is the […]
Islanders looking to overcome slow start, injuries as schedule eases
The Islanders left a list of milestones on the table with Tuesday night's loss. If they had won against the Kings, it would have been their first three-game winning streak of the season, the first time the NHL has topped .500 since October 25, and the first time since December that they have more standing […]
Oliver Wahlstrom believes he’s finally turning Islanders corner
The Islanders tenaciously hung on to Oliver Wahlstrom far beyond the points most other teams would reach while dealing with countless starts and stops along the way. Maybe the last few games were just one of those, with Wahlstrom attacking the offensive zone more often and scoring a few points. Admittedly, there's a long way […]
Islanders no match for Kings as five-on-five struggles continue
The Islanders' messy 5-on-5 game was carried over from Sunday to Tuesday. Their ability to overcome it was not. It was a bit of a reality check for a club that had secured a winning streak, moved within three straight wins to a playoff spot, found the confidence it needed on special teams, and began […]
Islanders’ Isaiah George hitting first speed bump after promising start
Isiah George's magic carpet journey through his first month as an NHLer finally reached a rocky point on Tuesday. Although he turned it over twice in his first few shifts and appeared to struggle against the physicality of the Kings' heavy forecheck, George logged just 7 minutes, 36 seconds of ice time and spent the […]
Ilya Sorokin’s back-to-back wins comes in crucial Islanders moment
Patrick Roy always preferred back-to-back starts during his playing career. At least, Ilya Sorokin probably doesn't care at this point. On Sunday, he found the back of the net for Ottawa while Semyon Varlamov was out with a lower-body injury, marking just the fourth time in the last four seasons that he's started on both […]
Islanders, Ilya Sorokin beat Senators for rare back-to-back wins
The Islanders have won just eight games in regulation. The Islanders struggled throughout November. The Islanders' special teams are notoriously terrible, and the third period is no different. The Islanders somehow manage to qualify for the playoffs. Perhaps that says more about the state of the Eastern Conference than anything else. On December 8, 2024, […]
Islanders’ Bo Horvat finally snaps long scoring drought
It was clear that a 13-game goalless streak was weighing heavily on Bo Horvat's psyche. At 18:55 of Saturday's second period, when Horvat finally put the puck in the back of the net, scoring his first goal in exactly a month and smiling, it was equally obvious that all the weight had been lifted off […]
Islanders slip past Hurricanes thanks to dominant second period
It's been a while since the Islanders played as well as the middle 20 minutes on Saturday. It's been a long time since the Islanders had a win as great as their 4-3 win over the Hurricanes at UBS Arena. The pattern for the past few weeks has been for the Islanders to win on […]
Pierre Engvall fails to show long-term value after Islanders second line chance
There was a faint smile on Patrick Roy's face when asked about Pierre Engval's performance on Thursday night. He sat in silence for five seconds, then asked his own questions. “Do I have to answer that?” he said. To be fair, the head coach said he was giving Engvall (who was unscathed the last two […]