Sebastian Aho Rises to Occasion For Islanders, Shift By Shift Analysis

New York Islanders Sebastian Aho was tasked with playing his off-side Tuesday night without Scott Mayfield in the lineup. He rose to the occasion.

When Scott Mayfield was ruled out Tuesday afternoon ahead of the New York Islanders nightcap against the Arizona Coyotes, all eyes were on Samuel Bolduc.

The 22-year-old was going to be in the starting lineup for the first time since Game Two of their first-round playoff matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, where he struggled mightily. 

In Bolduc's first game back (9:19 TOI) looked solid in the Islanders 1-0 shutout win over the Arizona Coyotes, but the player that really stood out was his partner, Sebastian Aho. 

Playing on his off-side for the first time this season, a natural left-side defenseman, Aho took the right side and may have had one of the better showings of his NHL career.

In 16:23 total minutes, 15:03 at even-strength, Aho recorded five shots on goal (tied with Mathew Barzal for team lead) on seven attempts, with a block, a hit, zero giveaways, and drew a penalty. 

While on the ice, the Islanders outshot their opponents 11-3, allowing just one high-danger scoring chance, per NaturalStatrick.com. 

"I thought he played really good," Islanders head coach Lane Lambert said. "I thought he just kept it simple. He made some good outlet passes. He jumped in on the rush a couple of times, but I thought, the minutes that he played, they were quality minutes."

Thanks to the Islanders Rewind on MSGSN, I went back and watched each of Aho's 19 shifts in the game to see what he was doing so well early on that allowed for a smooth night. 

Here are my somewhat legible notes, but I think you will get the gist. 

So, the few common themes were as followed:

I want to key in on one play, in particular, which came with 18:39 to play in the second period. 

After the Islanders won a board battle along the half-wall (boards north of goal line to blue line), Aho grabbed the loose puck and skated back toward the corner. With two Coyotes pressing, Aho waited patiently before he saw a lane open up in front of him. 

With his quick skates, he filled the hole like a running back, drawing all the attention to the weak side of the ice (opposite side of the puck), which forced the Coyotes to shift in that direction. 

But Aho had everyone fooled as he sent the puck up the near boards at a perfect speed for forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau to build up momentum and catch the puck in the neutral zone. 

That led to a 2-on-1 chance for Pageau and Engvall, and although no goal came of it, Aho's play was sneaky good and one that deserves much more recognition. 

It's not a shock to see Aho raise his play when the Islanders needed it, as, outside of Ryan Pulock, the Swedish blueliner was the Islanders' best defenseman against the Carolina Hurricanes in the playoffs. 

There's no timetable yet on when Mayfield may get back into the lineup. Lambert said ahead of Tuesday's game that he was dealing with swelling and is considered day-to-day. 

Although the Islanders want Mayfield back as quickly as possible, Aho showed that he can be trusted with not just playing his off-side effectively but also trusted with helping the young Bolduc find his game.