ELMONT, NY — The New York Islanders accomplished a feat on Thursday night.
They beat a weaker team.
And yes, it’s a tad hyperbolic, but it’s also true that far too often last season, the Islanders played down to weaker opponents.
The frustrating part for the team and, of course, the fans was that the Islanders played their best brand of hockey against the best teams.
If the Islanders want to make the playoffs after missing the past two years, they have to take care of business against the weaker teams.
And you know what the key was to doing that last night? They actually discovered the master key.
Happy Free Friday.
They let the weaker teams beat themselves.
Listen, it’s hard for the Blackhawks to say they were the better team in a 4-1 loss, but that’s what head coach Jeff Blashill believed, and there’s some truth to that.
“We did a lot of positive things throughout the game but probably didn’t get enough out of it. I talked with the group. I thought we were the better team and then in one sequence of events, we beat ourselves. We turned the puck over, took a penalty, and we blew an assignment on the penalty kill. We just beat ourselves.”
Just making sure you saw those words.
The Islanders didn’t play some crazy, skilled game. There wasn’t really much east-west play at all.
They forechecked hard and generated offensive opportunities. But when they didn’t have the puck, they backtracked well, slowing down a speedy team’s rushes and allowing their goaltender, Ilya Sorokin, to see the puck.
Sorokin was so technically sound in this game. He was on his angles, tracking pucks into his chest, and when he did produce a rebound, he found the puck, which had gone away from danger each time.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead because the Blackhawks were in the box for holding, and Bo Horvat made them pay within three seconds:
The second goal came off a terrible line change from Chicago, where Matias Maccelli put on the brakes and saw Bo Horvat crashing the net. Horvat pulled a Blackhawks defenseman with him, leaving Emil Heineman all alone in the slot with all the time in the world to pick his spot over Arvid Soderblom’s blocker:
The third goal came off brutal neutral-zone positioning by the Blackhawks, as Matthew Schaefer gave Anthony Duclair an alley-oop pass for a breakaway.
Hooked on the play, Duclair couldn’t finish his move, but he recovered the loose puck during a delayed penalty.
He found Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who caught the pass and spun to hit Logan Stanley.
The 6-foot-7 blueliner heard Duclair screaming for the puck, with No. 11 having opened up as a one-time option to Soderblom’s right.
With a no-look pass, Stanley put it on the money, with the Blackhawks just a mess defensively:
Three plays. Three goals. 3-0 lead. Taking care of business.
The Islanders didn’t need to be the better team, and that’s the point. When you play weak teams and let them beat themselves, you earn points.
The Islanders can say all they want about focusing on themselves, not the other team. But we all saw them play down to their opponents, dating back much farther than last season.
So what’s different this time around?
Look no further than the bench boss.
“When you play against a weaker team, you can’t let your foot off the gas at all, and think that you can play more of a skilled game,” Cal Ritchie told me. “You gotta play hard and play the right way. And yeah, I thought we did that for the most part.”
Non-negotiables.
And I can’t overstate the importance of DeBoer and his systems because their structure last night was rock solid.
They played a systematic brand of hockey.
Everyone knew where to be. They were hitting breakouts like clockwork, especially in the third period when the Blackhawks pushed for offense.
The Islanders drew four power plays, the first two coming because they were moving their feet.
On the other side of special teams, the Islanders’ penalty kill went 2-for-2, allowing just two shots. Chicago didn’t register a single shot on its first power play.
“That was probably our biggest issue last year. I thought we’d beat the good teams for some reason, and we’d struggle against the lower-end teams,” Ritchie said. “You got to win those games that are sure wins, and I wouldn’t say this is a sure win. Obviously, they’re a good team too. But I think, yeah, you got to win those games, and then against the top teams, you got to squeak out those wins too. You got to play hard.”
And these are the two points that add up over an 82-game season.
The Islanders know that better than most. When you’re fighting for a playoff spot down the stretch, the last thing you want is to look back at games against weaker opponents and wonder what could’ve been had you just taken care of business.
Two points in October count just as much as two points in April.
And earning those two points started with the Islanders sticking to their game plan.
Heineman echoed Ritchie’s comments about the importance of sticking to the game plan.
“First of all, we talked today about prioritizing what we want to do out there. They have skill and speed, and we don’t want to feed that. We want to shut them down and make them work for it. So I think we did a good job with that. Some stuff still has to be cleaned up, but I think we took a step in our game plan, I would say.”
If the Islanders under Pete DeBoer can consistently take care of business against weaker opponents, this team has a much better chance of making the playoffs.
They should make the playoffs.
There will be nights when the Islanders aren’t the better team. Darche and DeBoer both acknowledged that before the season started. But the goal is to find ways to win those games anyway.
And against a struggling hockey club on Thursday night, the Islanders let the Blackhawks show everyone why they’re bottom feeders.
More importantly, it should give the Islanders confidence that even when they’re not outplaying their opponent, their system, if executed properly, can still win them games.
They don’t have to change the way they play. That’s the case for the most consistent teams in the NHL.
Now, the Islanders have to prove they understand that.
And that means doing it again, and again, and again.
As always, a great read. Thanks for highlighting the thoughts that's been in many fans heads for a while. For Cal Ritchie to say, “When you play against a weaker team, you can’t let your foot off the gas at all, and think that you can play more of a skilled game,” is in itself very impressive to hear a young athlete say, and very satisfying as a fan who's watched many of those games for a very long time where the Islanders don't do so well against a bad team. Seattle being one of those teams in recent years. Looking forward to more Deboer games and seeing how the Isles capitalize on it as the season gets more intense.