Switches on Islanders' power play have been unsuccessful
Mathew Barzal #13 of the Islanders skates against the Boston Bruins at UBS Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023 in Elmont. Credit: Jim McIsaac
BUFFALO — Chronicling the Islanders of late has become a gloom-and-doom report, particularly when it comes to their goal production. And nowhere does it seem gloomier or doomier than their power-play struggles.
The Islanders faced the high-scoring Sabres on Thursday night at KeyBank Center after concluding a disappointing 1-2-2 homestand with a 4-1 loss to the NHL-best Bruins on Wednesday night.
They went 0-for-6 on the power play against the Bruins’ top-ranked penalty kill, generating only seven shots in 9:46 of man-advantage time. That left the Islanders 0-for-12 on the power play over a four-game span and an astonishingly bad 3-for-49 (6.1%) since Dec. 10 entering Thursday’s game.
“Just sticking with it,” Mathew Barzal said after Wednesday’s loss when asked how to escape the rut. “I think frustration just killed it. It killed us tonight. It’s lost us some games recently. It just has to be better, that’s the bottom line.”
Coach Lane Lambert and assistant John MacLean, brought in this season to run the power play, have tinkered with the personnel to no success. Defenseman Dennis Cholowski, recalled from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport on Wednesday, quarterbacked the second unit instead of Sebastian Aho against the Bruins. Defenseman Ryan Pulock recently was moved from the point to the left half-wall to open him up for one-timers.
Hudson Fasching was tried in the bumper spot between the circles. Jean-Gabriel Pageau has switched from the first unit to the second unit and back to the first unit again.
Nothing has created a dangerous look by the Islanders, who often hurt themselves as they struggle to gain the offensive zone.
The lack of power-play success is a significant reason the Islanders mustered only eight goals on the five-game homestand. They scored two or fewer goals in seven of their first nine games of 2023.
Remember, one tweak Lambert made when he took over from Barry Trotz was to push his players into the attack more, sacrificing some defense to do so.
“Everyone that comes to the rink, the coaching staff, the players, we’re all working every day to get better,” Lambert said. “We have to get our power play going.”
Lambert said the power play has been too inconsistent in generating chances.
“There are times when we have had good power plays and get good opportunities,” he said. “But the consistency isn’t there. We’ve got to get more pucks to the net.”
To that end, Lambert said after Wednesday’s loss that he has to consider changes.
“Yeah, we have to look at it,” he said. “We have to figure out a way to put the proper units together. If it means changing the units, then that’s what we have to do. So be it. At the end of the day, we’ve got to get some results.”
The Islanders’ top unit against the Bruins again featured Noah Dobson up top with Barzal and Brock Nelson on the half-walls, Anders Lee as the net-front presence and Pageau in the middle.
Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier and Zach Parise have been constants on the second unit.
Overall, the Islanders had sunk to 27th overall in the NHL on the power play at 23-for-135 (17.0%) entering Thursday. Pageau was leading them with five power-play goals. In comparison, Tage Thompson led the Sabres with 14.
Not surprisingly, the Islanders entered Thursday on a 1-4-2 skid and 2-5-2 on the road since Dec. 13.
They also were only one point out of a playoff spot.
When asked after Wednesday’s loss if his team’s season is starting to slip away, Barzal said, “Absolutely not.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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