Following Friday's skate, The Hockey News caught up with Islanders forward Mathew Barzal to discuss the road trip, the pressure mounting with the trade deadline around the corner, and more.
EAST MEADOW, NY -- Mathew Barzal was grinning ear to ear on Friday morning.
The New York Islanders were back on the practice for a quick skate after sweeping their mini two-game road trip to keep themselves in the playoff race with three games to go before the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline.
Barzal, who had an assist in their 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last Saturday, is riding a three-game point streak into Saturday night's battle against the Boston Bruins with a goal and three assists.
The face of the franchise earned the primary assist on Bo Horvat's overtime dagger to beat the Dallas Stars 5-4 on Monday night:
He parlayed that by assisting on Nelson's second goal of Thursday's game, a power-play tally, before scoring the go-ahead goal in their 5-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings:
Following Friday's skate, The Hockey News caught up with Barzal to discuss the road trip, the pressure mounting with the trade deadline around the corner, and more:
The Wins
For just the seventh time this season, the Islanders have strung together consecutive wins.
They weren't easy wins, coming back to beat the Central Division-leading Stars and finding a way -- albeit blowing a third-period lead twice -- to snap Detroit's six-game winning streak.
"We need it," Barzal said. "We know where we're at. Every game is crucial for us, especially against a team that is ahead of us."
The Red Wings currently hold the top wild-card spot in the East, with the Islanders cutting the gap to eight points and now find themselves six points behind the second wild-card Tampa Bay Lightning, with a monumental three games in hand.
"That was massive. We needed that badly."
It's more likely that the Islanders would catch the banged up Philadelphia Flyers, who they tail by five points with a game in hand.
The Line
For a second straight game, Barzal and Horvat skated alongside Brock Nelson.
Despite there being chances in the game against Dallas, the line as a whole didn't contribute to the scoresheet, but that changed Thursday night.
Nelson potted the Islanders' first goal of the game at 12:11 of the opening period before Barzal's eventual game-winning goal entered the back of the net at 13:58 of the third.
"I thought we had it going a little bit last night," Barzal said. "I still think there's way more for us to give. Last night, the goals were there with Brock's and mine, but I think the play needs to be a little better.
"I think we can possess the puck more and that kind of stuff. We're still growing. It's going to be good. We made a difference last night on the scoreboard, but I think we need to make more of an impact just all over the ice."
In 29:40 as a line, the Islanders have garnered 45.45 Corsi For Percentage (plus/- of shot attempt percentage), outshooting their opponents 17-16, per NaturalStatrick.com.
The positive is that the Islanders have outscored their opponents 2-0 with this threesome on the ice, but they're trading chances and have allowed 11 scoring chances to their 10.
"We have to be better defensively," Barzal said. "I mean, we can't be in our end for a minute at a time. It just kills our shifts, so we got to find a way to exit quicker, and we will."
The Deadline
As mentioned, the Islanders have three more games before March 8th's 2024 NHL Trade Deadline.
It's rather likely that the Islanders will add, especially if they can find a way to beat Boston before going out to California to play the bottom-feeding San Jose Sharks the night before deadline day.
So, there's pressure to keep the winning streak going.
"I don't think we really think about it or talk about it in here, but we definitely know that the deadline is coming up," Barzal said. "I obviously don't know what Lou [Lamoriello] is thinking, but if we do win some games, and we are really in the race, he'll do everything he can to help us get over the hump.
"So, that's on us now to get a few wins here and make it easier for him to make that decision."
The Former Teammates
Barzal has bonded with many Islanders over his eight years in the NHL.
Two of his former teammates who he's close with are pending unrestricted free agents that could be on the move: Seattle Kraken's Jordan Eberle ($5.5 M AAV) and Chicago Blackhawks' Anthony Beauvillier ($4.15 AAV).
THN asked Barzal if he'd spoken to them about the deadline.
"A little bit," Barzal said. "I talked to Ebs and Beau. I don't know what's going to happen with them, but I'd love to see them go to a team that is going to compete.
"I know those guys are competitors, and I know they want to be in the playoffs."
Right now, the Kraken are in a similar situation to the Islanders, seven points out of a wild-card spot with a few games in hand.
The Blackhawks aren't close; they are currently the worst team in the NHL, with 35 points in 60 games.
Could either one of them be heading back to Long Island?
"It'd be great, but like I said, I don't know what's going to happen," Barzal said. "Those two guys are pretty special to me."
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