Islanders Film Room: Aggressive Penalty Kill Pays Dividends On Nelson's Short-Handed Snipe

The Islanders new penalty kill approach paid dividends Monday in Colorado.

Stefen Rosner

David Kolb

, and

The Elmonters

Oct 16, 2024

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ISLANDERS NEWS

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Meet Your New 2024-25 New York Islanders DJ: Anthony Duclair

Since Andrew MacDonald was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 4, 2014, Cal Clutterbuck has been the New York Islanders team DJ, per Scott Mayfield.

Clutterbuck held that role for nine years, but now, he's no longer in the locker room playing his favorite beats, which spanned from country to EDM.

Someone had to fill the role that Clutterbuck left behind.

Please welcome to the stage DJ Duke.

FILM ROOM: Brock Nelson’s Shorthanded Goal Is A Direct Result Of New Aggressive Penalty Kill

The first goal of any penalty kill is to, well, not allow one.

After struggling mightily in the first game of the season, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club where the penalty kill went 0-for-2, they’ve been a perfect 4-for-4 since, per the stats.

But “perfect” needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as they allowed a goal to Colorado a few seconds after the power play ended.

In today’s film room, I wanted to look at Brock Nelson’s shorthanded goal on Monday night.

The biggest change to the penalty kill this season under Tommy Albelin has been their aggressive nature. In years past, under Doug Houda, they were anything but aggressive, usually regrouping to their own blue line to get back on the defense.

While Albelin’s aggressive scheme has burned the PK a few times this season, it paid dividends on Nelson’s goal.

Roll the tape:

Brock Nelson never once thought to sit back when the puck came out of his zone.
Once he saw Cale Makar back-tracking, Nelson used his stick and body position to force Makar to hold onto the puck. The backhand off-the-board pass was not an option, and Kyle Palmieri took away that part of the ice.
Because Nelson knew Makar was right-handed and that the defenseman's only play was to the center of the ice, he got his stick on the ice, allowing him to pick off the pass and score.

Nelson’s shorty was the second PK goal of the season, with Jean-Gabriel Pageau scoring in the opener before allowing a PP goal immediately after:

Like with Nelson’s goal, there was a forward who was aggressive on the puck. Then, Simon Holmstrom filled a lane. In the past, Pageau probably skates back to his own zone so the Islanders don’t get caught up the ice. But Pageau made the right read and made it count.