NOW AVAILABLE! New York Islanders: A to Z will introduce a new generation of fans to the legendary players, magical moments, and colorful 50-year history of the Islanders.
Contributions from Brendan Burke, Stan Fischler, Chris King, and Jiggs McDonald.
You can purchase it HERE
A portion of the proceeds goes to the Islanders Children’s Foundation.
Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Earlier this season, TNT Analyst Paul Bissonnette called the Islanders the most boring team in the NHL and an ‘absolute snoozefest,’ saying he much preferred seeing the Buffalo Sabres in the playoff over the Isles. Last night, it was the ESPN studio crew’s chance to poke fun as Ryan Callahan, and PK Subban pretended to have fallen asleep after a scoreless first period.
When the naysayers are calling them boring, it usually means the Isles are winning games. It also means that their structure and effort are there for 60 minutes, leaving an explosive team like Buffalo struggling to create chances, and when they do, they’re met with an elite goaltender. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Sabres had just 1.17 expected goals 5v5 last night and a tiny 0.26 in the decisive third period. Pretty boring stuff.
We’ll agree that the first period wasn’t thrilling, but the Isles followed up that scoreless first with 17 shots in the second period and 39 for the game. It was an entertaining final two periods of hockey and, more importantly, another win in a crucial stretch of games against teams in the Wild Card mix. Since Jan. 27, the Isles are 10-3-3, including nine regulation wins, the must ROW in the NHL during that span.
One player that never plays a boring style is Hudson Fasching. There have been multiple times this year when fans have pointed out his effort level stood out amongst his teammates. As a lifelong AHLer looking to stick in the NHL, he’s been playing the type of relentless style it’s taken his teammates 3/4th of a season to catch up to. After the game, linemate Casey Cizikas called him “a monster behind the net.” That’s true, but he was a monster everywhere last night, registering the highest game score on the team.
It feels great," Fasching said. "You just want to contribute and try to help the team win games. And obviously, it's a big game, so it feels awesome."
It was their biggest win of the season, with opportunities for more biggest wins of the season left to come, starting Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Isles Fix to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.