First of all, before we get going here, I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. The Islanders had a roller coaster of a 2018, but with things looking consistently better by the week, there should be a lot of optimism heading into 2019. The team has backed that up with wins in seven of their last eight games, including four in a row dating back to before the Christmas holiday.
Within those games one of the more interesting recent trends for the Islanders has been their increased pace of play over the last stretch, highlighted by the integration of Josh Ho-Sang and Devon Toews into the lineup.