Stefen Rosner
The New York Islanders currently sit 17 points out of a wild-card spot with 46 more games to play in the regular season. They have dominated the bad teams but cannot garner any points against teams over .500.
The Islanders have two games remaining before the 2022 NHL All-Star break, the first against a team ranked 29th in the NHL in the Ottawa Senators and the second, against the 30th ranked team in the Seattle Kraken.
But like Islanders head coach Barry Trotz and his players have said all season long, the focus is on the game at hand and that’s Ottawa.
Too Late For Fully Healthy?
If defenseman Ryan Pulock is back in the lineup Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators, that will mark the first time since Nov. 11 that the New York Islanders ran their intended 2021-22 lineup.
It would also be just the seventh game this season that the Islanders are at full strength. In those seven games, the Islanders were 4-2-1, with 2.43 goals per game and 1.86 goals against.
Although the offense has performed a little worse (2.38 currently) this season, the defensive difference (now 2.65) is unignorable.
While NHL hockey is a team game, Pulock returning to the lineup makes the backend more dynamic.
The Islanders have struggled mightily to transition. Weak passing has created obstacles in creating offense, and one strength of Pulock’s game is his ability to carry the puck and help the Islanders transition.
“He will help us. A veteran guy who’s important to our lineup and he’s missed, I don’t know, probably 25 games or so. Which is significant for us.” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz stated. “He’s a big piece of us, offensively, defensive.”
Ryan Pulock has just two assists in 12 games played this season.
One player back in the lineup is not going to make or break the Islanders’ season.
Players like Anthony Beauvillier (6 goals), Kyle Palmieri (1 goal), and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (5 goals) need to start contributing more on offense. Even youngster Oliver Wahlstrom (9 goals), who has shown spurts of offense, has fallen off quite a bit as of late with just one goal in his last 13 games.
Josh Bailey, who has eight points in his last 11 games, has just three goals on the season. Alongside the Islanders’ strongest offensive weapon, his goal production should be much higher.
It’s going to take a village and then some to turn the season around and the depth scoring is going to be the difference-maker in the close games, which the Islanders love to play.
What Robin Salo Has Shown Over First NHL Stint
With Ryan Pulock more than likely back, Robin Salo seems to be the odd-man-out for now. With the rigorous second-half schedule on tap for the New York Islanders, Trotz has stated that he will be giving players like Zdeno Chara (44 years old) and Andy Greene (39 years old) a chance for rest.
Although actions speak louder than words and the fact that Salo is waiver exempt, I believe he will remain up with the Islanders and will be used more than people think.
The Islanders would need to waive a player, Sebastian Aho, in order to create a roster spot for Salo when Ryan Pulock is activated out of LTIR. Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello does not waive players often, so we shall see what he decides to do here.
The biggest thing we have seen from Robin Salo’s game so far over his 18 career NHL games is his poise. He does not seem phased on the ice, skating with confidence. Although Noah Dobson has burst onto the scene as a reliable puck carrier, Salo also brings that element.
Trust has to be earned by youngsters under Trotz, but early on, the 23-year old Robin Salo earned that as he saw minutes as the quarterback of the second power-play unit.
“I think what he’s learned over his…the time that he’s been (in the league) is that you can’t always make something happen on every play.” Trotz said. “But what you can do is make good decisions. So something may happen and then you’ve got to support your decision on what you do.”
“He’s not trying to force things…turnovers mean opportunities and I think he’s learned that, probably the biggest lesson.”
On the season, Salo has one goal and three assists, with 17:03 minutes played per night. More often than not, Salo played alongside Andy Greene on the third defensive pairing.
“We In Here Talking About Practice?”
We all know the famous Allen Iverson rant about practice…and for the New York Islanders, practice time has been minimal as of late with games every other day, and opportunities to practice will be few and far between in the second half.
With games every other day, including back-to-backs, the New York Islanders will be using morning skates as their practice time. It’s not ideal for any team, but Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck offered a different viewpoint.
“For anybody who’s played multiple years you kind of get into a groove,” Clutterbuck said. “And you know, I think a lot of people from the outside look at off days as a positive but they are at certain times and in certain positions but you really want to be able to, to get into a rhythm so that you can show up and play games consistently and just build some momentum.”
“For us, it’s been really, really choppy that way so I think we’re just kind of looking forward to playing some games and just immersing ourselves, everyone getting ready to go every other day or whatever it is three out of four. I think we’re just hungry to play games instead of having momentum kind of disrupted by unscheduled breaks and extended periods of time off.”
Linemate Matt Martin offered his take as well on the matter.
“The timing of the game is so important. You can get in the best shape in the world but then you get out there and all the plays you have to make on the wall, the plays you have to make on breakouts, all your reads. Throughout the course of a season, all that stuff just becomes very natural,” Martin said. “And when you start breaking things up and you have two weeks off and then you know a week off here and play a game… it’s very hard to get into that rhythm.”
