Three Takeaways: Dobson, Bellows Look Good, Barzal Finds Two-Way Game in Win | NYHN+

The New York Islanders started off the 2020-21 NHL season off on the right foot Thursday night with a 4-0 win over the New York Rangers.

The Islanders capitalized on the power play on several occasions, they received timely goaltending when they needed it and their top-six forwards found the back of the net. Not to mention, the play of several young Islanders hoping to maintain their spots on the roster.

Let’s take a look at three takeaways from the Islanders’ season-opening win over their Manhattan rivals:

The Kids are alright!

Leading up to warmups on Thursday, there was a massive guessing game over who would be in the Islanders lineup. Would it be Kieffer Bellows and/or Oliver Wahlstrom playing on Thursday? Islanders head coach Barry Trotz let the suspense simmer until warmups.

In the end, Bellows was in the lineup alongside Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Ross Johnston on the third line. The 22-year-old played 10:25 in his ninth career NHL game and had a game-high eight hits for the Islanders. Bellows also displayed his puck handling ability and his prowess to create offensive chances.

Additionally, Thursday was the first look at Noah Dobson in his new role as a defensive mainstay. The young defenseman played just over 20 minutes, which was the fourth most of any skater, and saw seven minutes of power-play time. He also recorded his first point of the season, picking up the secondary assist on the Islanders’ fourth goal of the night.

Dobson wasn’t perfect on Thursday and the Islanders coaching staff will continue to work with him, but it was an encouraging sign to see him play the way he did against the Rangers.

“We know what he’s capable of doing. It’s no surprise at all,” Trotz said.

Mathew Barzal Buying into Two-Way Game

Barry Trotz talked about his desire to develop Mathew Barzal’s game beyond his obvious offensive skill set. On Thursday it looked as though Barzal was receiving the message.

The Islanders star forward scored his first goal of the season, but also looked a lot stronger away from the puck as well. He appeared to be backchecking more and creating some chances through it. At one point, he made a smart play and picked the pocket of Adam Fox, nearly converting on the scoring opportunity.

“I think it’s something I’m trying to include in my game over the last two years,” Barzal said about his backchecking. “Just trying to get better at being on the right side of the puck, not cheating as much for offense. I’m a pretty good skater so I try to use that on the backcheck. That’s something that doesn’t really take skill. I’m just trying to move my legs on the backcheck and maybe pick some passes off. Make it tough on them.”

The opening night performance was a good sign for Trotz, but it’s still a work in progress. The Islanders coach told reporters after the game that he wants to go over a few things with Barzal and that they had communicated on the bench about some of them.

“He’s so instinctive offensively if we could just get him to have a little balance at times it would really help him get the puck more,” Trotz said. “That’s my goal. I think he could be as good as he wants to be. He’s got the skillset, he’s competitive, he’s a good young man, he shoots the puck pretty well. Passes it pretty well and he has the skating ability that’s outstanding.”

Power Play gets plenty of work

At points last year, it seemed like the Islanders couldn’t buy a power-play goal. It was a major focus of the Islanders during training camp last week.

That work seemed to payoff off for the Islanders, who scored twice on the man-advantage with the first one coming 2:33 into the game for their first power-play tally of the night. Thursday marked the first time since March 31, 2011, that the Islanders had been given at least eight power plays in a single game.

“I thought we did a great job of practicing a lot in training camp,” Said Nick Leddy, who had an assist on the first power-play goal. “It’s always good to get some momentum on the power play. With that, it creates team momentum.”