After another win over a middling-at-best team, the Islanders are once again three games over NHL .500. But more encouraging to me is how they’ve looked doing it because they have also improved their play against playoff-caliber teams, even if the results haven’t always been there.
Ever since embarrassingly conceding four goals in under five minutes to the Colorado Avalanche in the first game this month, these guys have appeared more and more like the Barry Trotz–led New York Islanders of 2018–21. It seemed to jolt them out of their funk.
It isn’t at all likely that they qualify for the playoffs this year, but as I have written a lot recently, this has been encouraging for next season.