EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Needless to say, the last two results for the New York Islanders were massive in keeping their playoff hopes alive.
An overtime victory against the Central-leading Dallas Stars and a 5-3 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings, who hold the No. 1 Wild Card spot in the East, has the Islanders six points back of a Wild Card spot and five points back of third place — an automatic playoff qualifier — in the Metropolitan Division.
“It’s funny because I think people considered us to be quite a ways out of it when we’re not that far out of it,” forward Brock Nelson told amNewYork on Friday. “With the confident group that we have and the ability to go on a run, things can change fast.”
Nelson is a part of one of those changes that has suddenly brightened the outlook of things surrounding the Islanders, who looked to be in serious trouble just one week ago following a demoralizing loss to the New York Rangers at the 2024 NHL Stadium Series that headlined a skid of five losses in six games.
Head coach Patrick Roy has moved Nelson, who leads the team with 27 goals, from second-line center to first-line left-winger alongside Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal ahead of Monday’s win in Dallas.
The early results have been good. The trio — all of whom have had extensive careers at center — has accounted for four of the Islanders’ last eight goals across the last two wins, including a pair from Nelson on Thursday night in Detroit.
“I think all three guys can read and react off one another,” Nelson said. “All three played more center than any other position, so it’s about being able to read off one another and filling lanes and just go out there and make plays and be a different maker.
“We’ve had a couple good games, but we’d like to generate a little more sustained O-zone time to create more chances.”
This is the kind of line that the Islanders have not had in ages. Nelson is now a perennial 30-goal scorer while Horvat is on pace to hit that mark, as well. Barzal, meanwhile, is having his best season since his rookie year when he put up 85 points in 82 games in 2017-18 and won the Calder Trophy in the process. He leads New York with 63 points in 61 games, clearly the beneficiary of being on a line with Horvat and the one who pulls the strings on a power play unit with one of the best young offensive defensemen in the game, Noah Dobson.
This is a top-heavy of a line as you’ll find around these parts, and they know exactly what they are meant to do together.
“I do think having me Bo and Nelly, there’s an unsaid thing where we’re out there to score and be dynamic, explosive,” Barzal told amNewYork. “We had two [Thursday] night and that was a good building block. Now we need to really bear down. We know we have a massive role and we need to be big every night for us.”
A byproduct of their union is more opportunities for Roy’s shaken-up lines. Long-time fourth-line center Casey Cizikas has been flanked by Simon Holmstrom and Pierre Engvall — an unusual trio that has jelled well and one that Barzal described as “buzzing.”
But if the Islanders are to dig out of the hole that they are in, the onus is clearly on that top unit.
“When we play… Edmonton when [Connor] McDavid and [Leon] Draisaitl are on the ice together, you’re focused so hard on that one line to shut them down,” Barzal said. “I can’t speak for other teams but I assume that we’re pretty marked. That’s totally fine because I think we have the skill to get through that. It gives the other lines some good matchups and we can create havoc that way.”
