The New York Islanders started this season looking pretty poor at driving play (or possession) overall, as I discussed in my last post on this site. They have improved quite a bit over the last few games, now outplaying their opponents on average in terms of possession.
But saying the Isles have been playing better at "possession" doesn't really get at HOW this improvement has happened. To look at that, I'd like to go look at some neutral zone numbers for the team so far.
To clarify again for those who are new to these posts, I've been tracking play in the Neutral Zone during every game this season, recording each zone entry into the offensive zone by Islanders' players (and into the defensive zone by opponents), tracking what time they happened, who made each entry, and whether the entry was with control (by carry-in or pass-in) or without control (by tip-in or dump-in).