Islanders starting to show signs of fixing penalty-kill struggles
The Islanders woke up Wednesday wishing they could have extended their streak of successful penalty kills by one more game.
If not for Pavel Zacha breaking their run of 10 straight penalties killed in the second period on Tuesday night, the Isles likely would have earned two points against the Bruins instead of just one after a 4-3 shootout loss.
Still, it must be noted that “streak of successful penalty kills” is a new addition to the lexicon for the Islanders, whose PK has been a raging disaster for two years and change.
Though their overall numbers this season still come in a tick below league average, the Isles do seem to be taking to assistant coach Bob Boughner’s system at four-on-five, and slowly but surely turning the ship around.
“The big difference to me is the confidence, of course, [and] the triggers,” coach Patrick Roy said before Tuesday’s game. “Feel like we’re jumping fast and we are very connected on our penalty killing. I think that really helps a lot. Boogie’s been doing a really good job with the guys — the guys are buying into what he’s trying to do.”
The Islanders have been noticeably more aggressive in trying to deny entries at the blue line and taking advantage of opportunities to create a shorthanded rush.
They’ve also been getting in front of shots.
Boughner has emphasized getting the first kill of the game as a way of building confidence.
“I feel like it really gives momentum to your game as well,” Roy said. “We talk about it when we played [in Boston last week] — two penalties early in the second period, they scored on the second one. I think if we were to kill it, it would give us some momentum.”
After the past couple seasons, the Islanders would be thrilled to merely have a competent penalty kill.
Had they hit that bar last season, it’s highly possible they would have made the playoffs.
And though it’s still early, it looks like they’ll at least do that this time around.
The Islanders did not hold practice Wednesday with two days before their next game against the Wild on Friday.
The Islanders are 1-6-1 in their past eight games against Minnesota and have been outscored 30-15.
