Five Factors: The Islanders are the Scariest Team in the NHL

Over the last month, the New York Islanders have revived a season that seemed absolutely doomed. The team has a 9–2–2 record over their last 13 games, starting with a 4–0 win in Boston which would prove to be Jack Capuano’s last game behind the bench with the team.

During this streak of success, the Isles have skyrocketed from the bottom of the Eastern Conference to one point behind the Maple Leafs for a wild card playoff spot. What has lead to this resurrection of what looked to be a hopeless season? Here are five core factors:

Change of Pace

Fans of the Minnesota Wild will remember their hot streak last season after replacing head coach Mike Yeo with John Torchetti. The Wild would ride that momentum to the final wild card spot in the Western Conference before being bounced in the first round by the top-seeded Dallas Stars. The point being, simply shaking things up can completely turn a season around. As mentioned in the article above, sometimes players just respond to a different voice in the locker room.

Consistent Line Chemistry

One of the things about Jack Capuano that pissed Islanders fans off to no end was his sporadic and drastic line-shuffling. Doug Weight has done a fantastic job of being patient with his lines and allowing the players to develop line chemistry. People always talk about Josh Bailey’s inability to play at a high level consistently, but the guy has never had a chance to get comfortable with his linemates; Capuano rarely skated him on the same line two games in a row. The Bailey-Tavares-Lee line has been exploding as of late, combining for 38 points over this 13-game span. The Chimera-Quine-Ladd combo has also worked well when together, all three players have maintained positive plus-minus ratings and combined for 16 points over the stretch.

John Tavares Has Come Alive

During the first 41 games of the season, Tavares tallied 32 points. He has produced almost half that total since the midway point of the season. Here are some videos of possibly the most underrated franchise player in the NHL doing his thing.

Doug Weight

When the Islanders first started this tear, I thought to myself “Well Tavares must be coaching the team because there’s no way this is Doug Weight’s doing.” I honestly thought naming him the interim coach showed the franchise would tank the season for a high draft pick and either draft a stud or use the pick as trade bait for an asset. Dougie has gone from the special team's coordinator of the 29th-ranked powerplay in the NHL to the interim HC of a playoff contender over the course of a month. He’s not doing anything over-the-top, which is exactly what this team needed. New pieces like Jason Chimera, Andrew Ladd and Anthony Beauvillier have hit their strides and finally assimilated into the system. The young talent like Ryan Strome, Anders Lee and Brock Nelson are starting to progress toward their potential as star players. Lee is actually putting shots on net at the same pace as Patrick Kane over the last month. Sometimes less is more, as Weight’s relatively laissez faire approach to his new role has proven.

Special Teams

One advantage of promoting your special teams coordinator to head coach: emphasis on special teams. During the first half of the season, the Isles posted an abysmal 14.0% conversion rate on powerplays (ranked 26th in the NHL) and a sub-par 79.7% success rate killing penalties (ranked 22nd in the NHL.) Since then, the Islanders have scored on 22.7% of their powerplays, good enough for 9th-best in the league, and killed an astounding and league-leading 89.7% of opponents’ powerplays.

The Isles have been the talk of the town (and the league, for that matter) since the all-star break. The team is poised to seize ownership of the 8th and final Eastern Conference playoff spot, and could pick up right where they left off last postseason, winning the franchise’s first playoff series since 1993. Their combination of both young and veteran talent, strong leadership, speed, toughness and a big ass chip on their shoulders make the New York Islanders the most dangerous team in hockey, and a verifiable contender for Lord Stanley’s cherished hardware.