The New York Islanders were one of the worst teams when it came to the faceoff last season. By “one of the worst” I don’t mean they’re in the bottom half, or even in the bottom ten. They were the third worst team in the league with a 47.4 percent face-off win percentage.
The idea of a faceoff is quite obvious. If you win the puck drop you immediately get possession of the puck, while if you lose the faceoff the other team gets the puck. Easier said than done, but the idea is to maximize (gaining possession) the former and minimize the latter (losing possession).