Islanders' Jean-Gabriel Pageau on his offensive production: 'I hope it's coming'

 BOSTON — Jean-Gabriel Pageau does not sugarcoat his own self-analysis.

 The Islanders’ versatile third-line center knows he did not start the season strongly enough. He also knows he’s now doing enough to kickstart more offensive production.

 “I hope it’s coming,” Pageau said before the Islanders faced the Bruins on Thursday night at TD Garden. “At the start of the year, I really thought I had a slow start, which you don’t want that as a player. I feel like, lately, I’ve been having chances. And when you have chances, you don’t have to worry too much. When you don’t have the chances, that’s when you start to worry.

“I was starting to just go back and trying to get back to the basics which brought me up to the NHL. Being physical, being hard, winning draws, play fast, make some good decisions with the puck, go to the net. A lot has to do with confidence, also. You get one, you get streaky. Bounces start getting on your side.”

 Pageau, in the fourth season of a six-year, $30 million deal, entered Thursday with four assists but no goals in 11 games.

 Already in those 11 games, Pageau worked with five different wingers and four different line combinations. That’s not counting the combinations Pageau works with on special teams.

 Pageau entered Thursday 10th on the Islanders with an average time on ice of 16:48. But he was fifth on the club on the penalty kill with 25:32 and seventh on the power play with 18:30 as he plays in the slot on the second unit.

 “He’s excellent on faceoffs,” coach Lane Lambert said. “His penalty killing has been good. We’ve talked about the fact that he has different linemates at times. I think he’s starting to find some chemistry with those guys.”

 “Like I’ve said before, it’s fun when you play with the same guys over and over again,” Pageau said. “For them to know my tendencies, for me to know their tendencies just makes it easier. Most of the players that have been moving here and there, I’ve played with them. But, sometimes, they haven’t played together. Sometimes there’s that little connection which we need to find again.”

 Line chemistry can lead to goals. But shooting more is probably equally, if not more, important. Pageau entered Thursday just ninth on the team with 15 shots on net.

“Just overall as an entire team, I think we, at times, pass up too many shots,” Lambert said. “So this is a focal point for us is to get more pucks to the net. It won’t go in if you don’t shoot it.”

 That was part of Pageau’s self-analysis.

 “After every game I look at myself in the mirror,” Pageau said. “What could I have done better. I really trust if you keep working the same way with good habits, things are going to go your way.”

Pageau, as usual, has been strong in the faceoff circle, winning 61% of his draws entering Thursday. He won 15-of-22 against the Wild. That’s allowed his line — regardless of his linemates — to get up ice.

 “He’s been really solid,” right wing Hudson Fasching said. “He’s been snapping faceoffs back at a crazy rate. He hasn’t necessarily scored on the stat sheet as much as other guys have. But we haven’t given up much. We’ve been very staunch defensively as a general rule and I think he’s a large reason for that. He’s still creating plays in the offensive zone and we’re creating a lot of offensive pressure. I think it’s coming, that’s my take.”

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

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.