New York Islanders: Do the Isles have a problem playing on the road?
The New York Islanders closed out a four game road stand in Boston on Friday night with another loss. Should they start worrying about their performance on the road?
Before Friday, the New York Islanders sat at 8-8-1 in road games this year. A 3-1 loss brought the mark to 8-9-1.
Most would argue that is not awful considering the Islanders still have 35 points going into Friday.
Winning in the NHL is very tough and winning on the road is something even the best team’s struggle with. However, if the Islanders do not start winning more away from Brooklyn should we be concerned?
I’m not worried about this right now. The Isles have already had two separate four game road stands done with. But that is exactly why they need to start winning more road games.
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Islanders still have a four game road stand left on the year. But their away schedule only gets easier.
It is important to get better on the road for many reasons.
The Islanders are fantastic at home. They have a five game stand at Barclays coming up towards the end of December which if all goes according to projection, will give them a cushion.
But, if the Isles want to maintain pace in the Metro, they’ll have to find a better balance of wins home and away.
As of before the Friday night games, the Isles are one of the four teams in an Eastern conference playoff spot that do not have more wins than losses on the road.
Seven of the eight teams in the Metro have a winning record on home ice, including the Islanders. That is encouraging but not the main key to winning the division.
In order to separate themselves as a top team in the East, they will need to fare better in away games.
They are going to have to be able to go on the road and win a lot more games.
The Isles have only won back to back road games one time this year.
Next: Previewing the Isles month of December
I’m not saying I’m worried about what the Isles do on the road. It is hard to complain about their performance this year. They rarely disappoint.
However, what I can and will say is that down the stretch, the road games, whomever they may be against (still have a west coast swing left), is what will separate them as pretenders or contenders in the Metro Division and the playoffs.