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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
When do you know a line has great chemistry? When they get a nickname, of course! The French Connection, The Legion of Doom, The Kid Line were all special NHL lines. Closer to home, Islanders fans have been treated to The Trio Grande and more recently The Identity Line.
After Brock Nelson and later Anthony Beauvillier scored on Tuesday night, you might have heard MSG Network’s Anson Carter call the trio, The Killer BLees. The previous night, it struck me funny that Brock-Beau-Lee sounds like Broccoli. The Killer BLees is better - they should go with that. I don’t know if that’s an Anson original, but it’s better than being named after a vegetable kids despise.
As we’ll get more into later in the newsletter, the newfound chemistry for the Isles’ newfound top-line could change the thinking of Islanders’ brass heading into the off-season.
But for now, the BLees are buzzing and showing no signs of slowing down.
Coming up, Varly is set to go back-to-back for the first time all year, and Michel Anderson is dealing out prospect player cards. Plus, the Isles’ special teams have been pretty special, remembering Robin Lehner clinching a playoff berth and construction of UBS Arena in NHL 22 is complete!
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The Islanders received a full day off yesterday flying back from Columbus on the tail end of a home-and-home matchup with the Blue Jackets.
⬆️ BRIDGEPORT BACKUP: In the absence of Cory Schneider after his call up to the varsity squad, the Bridgeport Islanders have recalled Ken Appleby from the Worcester Railers.
🤔 TOUGH DECISIONS: Joe Pantorno of amNewYork accurately states that the “Islanders finally have a first line that's playing like an actual first line.” That line is made up of Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, and Anthony Beauvillier.
“Veteran forward Brock Nelson, in his eighth pro season, has posted a career-high 32 goals in just 56 games thanks to a torrid March. He’s tied for the NHL league lead in goals alongside Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov with 13 since the start of the month — becoming the first Islanders since Zigmund Palffy in 1996 to score that many times in a single calendar month.”
Nelson is obviously one of the hottest, if not the hottest goal scorers in the NHL right now having scored 13 in the month of March. Lee isn’t too far behind with 11 goals of his own this month. Beauvillier rounds out the line and has accrued three goals, 10 assists in his last 15 games.
Beauvillier is known to be a streaky player, so it’s fair to wonder if this is one of those times of the year where he hits his stride before he falls off again. If it’s not just a streak, it begs the question about Beauvillier’s future. The 24-year-old winger has been at the forefront of trade speculation heading into the summer. However, if he’s figured it out with Nelson and Lee, it’s looking like one of the better lines in the NHL. There are about four weeks left of the season and Beauvillier will be one of those roster evaluations Lou Lamoriello mentioned.
🥅 VARLY TIME: Barry Trotz stated on Tuesday that Ilya Sorokin is “feeling better” and that he will be re-evaluated soon. Unfortunately, not before the Islanders take on the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight for the second time in three nights, however. Andrew Gross of Newsday asks in his latest if the Isles' Semyon Varlamov going back-to-back?
“Besides, Varlamov made 42 saves in Tuesday night’s 4-3 win in Columbus and was a key reason the Blue Jackets didn’t complete their rally after the Islanders took a three-goal lead in the second period. The Islanders were outshot 16-3 in a passive third period, but Varlamov allowed only one goal, even with the Blue Jackets skating six-on-four on a late power-play.”
It’s been an interesting season for the Islanders’ veteran goaltender. His record (7-13-2) doesn’t look great, but his GAA (2.88) and SV% (.914) prove that the record is less about him, and more about the Islanders as a whole. Varlamov has been mostly good this season, and in Tuesday’s contest, he was great.
When Varlamov was injured to start the 2021-22 season, Cory Schneider started the season as Sorokin’s backup. Sorokin made all nine starts for the Islanders until Varlamov was ready to return from injury on November 7th. Now that Varlamov appears fully healthy, Trotz has gone back to rotating the two goaltenders each game. However, given Trotz’s reluctance to start Schneider at the beginning of the season, it’s likely we’ll see the same this time around.
Varlamov is plenty capable of handling the starting goaltender duties until Sorokin returns from whatever is ailing him which could be sooner rather than later. As for tonight, expect the Islanders to go back to Varlamov.
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders end March hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight ON Long Island (We forgive you, Brendan) with face-off slated for 7 PM. Then on Friday, the Islanders open April with a game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
📊 STANDINGS:
Pre-order your custom jersey NOW or shop the site for great merchandise.
🃏 PROSPECT PLAYER CARDS: NHL player cards are all the rage right now. You see The Athletic, JFresh, and Andy & Romo are some of the more well-known card creators and now, Islanders prospect aficionado, Michel Anderson, has created his own.
In his latest Deckhands video, Anderson walks through some Islanders’ prospects like Aatu Räty, Samuel Bolduc, and William Dufour. Click the video so he can tell you what he did, why he did them, and what they mean.
👨🏫 MEME-TORSHIP: Caught on camera Tuesday night was a great moment between Zdeno Chara and Noah Dobson where the 45-year-old veteran was seemingly giving the 21-year-old blossoming star some words of wisdom. Isles Twitter had some fun with the moment, turning the video into some funny memes. Here are some of our favorites:
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, the Isles went 1-4 on the power play and are 12-37 (32.43%) in their last thirteen games. Since March 5th, only Colorado (13) has more power-play goals than the Isles.
The Isles killed all three of their penalties and have now killed 42 of 48 in the last 17 games (87.5%). At home they are even better, having killed 30 of 32 since the beginning of February; their 93.8% home PK in that span is second in the NHL to Carolina's 94.4%.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: Playoffs Baby! Playoff! F’N Right! On March 30th, 2019, the Islanders clinched their first playoff berth since 2016 in Barry Trotz’s first season as the Islanders’ head coach. The Islanders defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 behind two goals from Anthony Beauvillier and individual tallies from Ryan Pulock, Jordan Eberle, and Michael Dal Colle. Robin Lehner made 31-saves in the win, but his best moment came during the post-game:
🔗 Islanders News: The March of the Nelson continues, Lighthouse Hockey, Steven E. Smith: “Though the cannon rang out a few times, the New York Islanders were left standing when the horn buzzed last night. The Islanders will try to finish out the home-and-home sweep over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night back on Long Island. (Brendan Burke, are you reading?)”
🔗 Can The Islanders Brock Nelson And Anders Lee Be an 80-Goal Duo? Eyes on Isles, Andrew Tessler: “Brock Nelson and Anders Lee now have a combined 57 goals, with 17 games remaining on the season. Nelson has really come into his own this year, getting open and using that unbelievable shot to score from all angles. It's obvious at this point that Anders Lee needed more time to recover from his injury than we thought and has looked dominant in front of the net as of late.”
And we leave you with this… if you’re a fan of the EA Sports NHL franchise, the Islanders’ new home has finally arrived in NHL 22. UBS Arena has been added to the game after a few years of uncertainty where EA just labeled the home as “Islanders Arena.” The patch is now LIVE!
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.
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