The New York Islanders needed defense to win under Barry Trotz. But the roster now has an offensive ability that allows them to change their system, and that offense is what is allowing them to garner results.
The New York Islanders needed defense to win under Barry Trotz. But the roster now has an offensive ability that allows them to change their system, and that offense is what is allowing them to garner results.
The New York Islanders defensive play this season has been problematic. Even before the injuries to crucial backend members, the structure and play from reliable veterans were anything but reliable.
With blow leads left and right, the players in the room consistently said that they were retreating too much and not being aggressive, focusing too hard on holding leads rather than extending them.
The retreating and going into a shell used to bring results and points, a system that Barry Trotz put in place when he came aboard in 2018.
Why did Trotz make his group play a more defensive-style game in a league that had quickly moved away from that kind of play?
The answer is simple.
The Islanders' roster didn't have the influx of offensive talent, flashy forwards, and lightning-quick speed that other teams had on their roster.
The strength of Trotz's new team, which Trotz unlocked in year one -- taking the worst defensive team in the NHL in 2017-18 and turning them into the league's best in 2018-19 -- was their ability to defend.
So that grinding, shutdown style was ingrained into the minds of those Trotz' teams and became the way of life.
But this Islanders' team now, with the additions of players like Bo Horvat and Pierre Engvall, along with the movement of Mathew Barzal to the wing, doesn't need to play that way anymore.
There's offensive potential that wasn't there a few years ago.
Although the Islanders' offense doesn't have them close to the top of the league in goals per game, they've averaged 3.00 this season and have scored at least four goals in five straight games.
That doesn't mean that weak defensive play isn't a critical issue for this team going forward.
It surely is, but an ability to score goals and alleviate, mask -- whatever word comes to mind -- those defensive blunders is a "get out of jail free" card the Islanders haven't been able to draw in quite some time.
Sometimes, the best defense is a strong offense, which the Islanders proved in their 7-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
The Islanders didn't shift their focus after 40 minutes of play when entering the third with the lead.
Rather than focusing on holding down the fort with a multi-goal lead, they kept their foot on the offensive gas.
"I think we were just playing fast. When we were getting into our zone, we were trying to be crisp on our breakouts, and when you do that, it makes it harder on other teams to forecheck," Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri said following the win. "We know what it is when we're dumping pucks in, and they're breaking right out.
"It's frustrating, and we were just doing a good job of getting the puck and going back the other way."
Even after allowing a Columbus goal at 1:28 of the third, Lambert's group never wavered, responding with three goals to put the game out of reach.
They weren't just trying to hold on like we've seen numerous times this year, as we saw in their utter collapse against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night, allowing a 4-1 lead to evaporate in a 5-4 overtime loss.
"It was big. I mean [...] not even really hold on. We put the pressure on them and kind of poured it on," Palmieri said.
Islanders forward Mathew Barzal, who potted two goals with two assists in the win, made it clear postgame that this group believes they can match up offensively with the best the NHL has to offer.
"I think sometimes, it's in our gameplan and in our DNA to play good defense, but our forward group can play with anybody, and then we can score with anybody as we're proving as of late," Barzal said. "So sometimes, you have to let the doors open and let us go out there and win a game."
That they did.
Through 25 games (11-7-7) the Islanders have scored three-plus goals in 17 games, which matches their stat line through 25 games in 2022-23.
On the flip side, the Islanders have allowed three-plus goals in 18 of 25 games after just 13 through 25 games last season (15-10-0).
There's no question that the blown leads have left a tremendous number of points on the table, which doesn't help any of their defensive categories or record.
But, even through all of the mistakes, the Islanders woke up Friday morning holding down the third seed in the Metropolitan Division.
Like anything, consistency is critical, and what plagued the Islanders a season ago was their failure to keep the offense going when the calendar changed from 2022 to 2023.
Through the opening three months of the 2022-23 season, the Islanders averaged 3.22 goals per game, allowing 2.65.
Then, in the final four months of the season, after a horrific start in a weak January, the Islanders averaged just 2.99 goals per game, allowing 2.72 on their way to sneaking into the 2023 postseason.
Why, you might ask?
After January, the Islanders decided to go back to Trotz hockey, which meant not pushing for offense as much, which would limit the offensive stat line. They focused on defense because that was just a comfortable thing for the group, and of course, Barzal's injury hurt their 5-on-5 production and the power play.
What should give the Islanders hope that the offense can keep it going rather than fall off?
Last season, the Islanders relied heavily on Brock Nelson and his line. Although that line is doing a strong job thus far, the Islanders newest dynamic duo has taken some weight off their shoulders.
A healthy Barzal (9 goals, 18 assists) is on pace for over 91 points, which would be a career-high.
Horvat, his counterpart (9 goals, 14 assists), is on pace for 78 points, which would also be a new career-high.
The Islanders haven't had a dynamic duo like this since the Dynasty Days, and we haven't likely seen the best from those two just yet.
"Yeah. I think anytime you get the points and things are clicking, it definitely feels good," Horvat said. "But we have to keep that going. Can't be on our high horse now."
Noah Dobson (5 goals, 18 assists) has been a catalyst on both sides of the puck and is on pace for a career-high 75 points -- not to mention his play on the power play, which is coming through at a 26.1 percent clip.
Visually, it's the most lethal the power play has looked in quite a while.
But being on pace or having strong starts means nothing if players cool off.
However, the way to counteract a drop-off is by not changing the system like we saw last season.
Like anything, there are ebbs and flows. If the offense does cool down, the Islanders haven't shown the defensive ability this season or at times last season that they once had when going to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals.
Confidence is everything with this group, and if the Islanders can continue to stay on the attack after 40 minutes, the points will come, and, in part, the offensive numbers will continue to trend in the right direction over more than just three months.
You can watch Rosner talk Islanders hockey on Hockey Night in New York with co-host Sean Cuthbert live Sunday nights at 8 PM ET during the season at twitch.tv/hockeynightny.