So as the trade deadline intrigue builds, the Islanders remain red-hot at the most inconvenient time for them to have finally started playing well.
There were no “asset management” scratches on Saturday with 48 hours to go until Monday’s trade deadline, and the Islanders did not play, act or sound in any way like a team that may be ready to sell. They beat the Stars, 4-2, off a third-period hat trick from Brock Nelson to make it five wins in six, with 11 points of 12 over that span, moving their record to 26-24-9.
“Feels right,” Anthony Beauvillier said. “Feels like we’re doing the right things again and playing the right way. Everyone’s sticking together. It’s fun.”
Before the game, Islanders coach Barry Trotz was asked about his discussions with general manager Lou Lamoriello and joked, “I say, ‘Do I have to worry about anything the next couple days?’ He says, ‘I’ll let you know.’ So there’s a transcript [of the conversation].”
Right now, though, Trotz and Lamoriello have a lot to discuss.
The Islanders’ playoff hopes are still close to zero, but the team has a choice over the next few days about whether it wants to stick with a core that is aging, and played the better part of the season like it, but has extensive playoff experience and has recently looked like a group that knows its reputation is on the line.
Case in point: Saturday.
With the score tied at one, Nelson netted the go-ahead goal at 4:17 of the third with a power-play shot that skipped above Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger and landed behind the goal-line. That was his 25th goal of the season. He didn’t have to wait long for his 26th, putting one top shelf off a cross-ice feed from Anthony Beauvillier to make it 3-1 at 5:55.
Jacob Peterson cut the lead to 3-2, cleaning up a loose puck in the low slot at 11:39. Despite the Stars having a decided upper hand in shots on net — 39-25 — the Islanders managed to hang on from there, staving off a push at six-on-five before Nelson’s third goal, an empty-netter with 19.5 seconds to go in the game.
The game went into the third period tied at one after the teams traded goals in the second. Ryan Pulock’s slap shot from the right point, clocked at over 100 mph, put the Islanders ahead 1-0 at 3:16 of the second. But after Josh Bailey failed to convert an odd-man rush with under two minutes to go, Denis Gurianov made the Islanders pay by scoring on a rush down the other end.
Earlier in the year, the Islanders might have folded from there. Saturday was not their best — nor was it their opponents’. Both teams looked disjointed, particularly on the power play, perhaps a product of a packed schedule.
The Islanders, though, stuck with their identity, grinding away until the right chances came in the form of Nelson’s goals.
“I think from our standpoint, this is a group that, we’ve had success in the past and we’re so close,” Pulock said. “Obviously would like to continue that. … I think this last month, [few] weeks, we’ve kinda shown that this team that we have can kinda beat anyone and compete and be a top team in this league.”
Whether Lamoriello agrees will dictate how the Islanders go about the next two days. But that identity the Islanders have so often harped on has looked the part recently.
Central to it would be Cal Clutterbuck, whose expiring contract makes him a likely trade candidate. Key to their win on Saturday would be Semyon Varlamov, who had 37 saves on Saturday for his second victory in three starts, and who also could be moved if Lamoriello decides to sell.
Over the past 10 days, though, the team has made a compelling case for their GM to hold steady.
“I think this group still has the belief that we can go out there with anyone and compete, beat every team every night,” Nelson said.
Whether there is much prudence in sticking with a group that’s found itself so far from the postseason is a different conversation.
The fact that the conversation can even be had, though, is a testament to how the Islanders have played of late.
At the beginning of March, this all seemed simple. But good play has a way of complicating things if it comes at the wrong time.
“I think we’re a lot better than maybe our record shows,” Pulock said. “And I think we’ve seen more of that in this recent stretch.”
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