New York Islanders: Analyzing the Islanders’ ridiculous success vs their division opponents

The New York Islanders are finally starting to win games at their expected pace this season. One of the reasons why they have been in or flirted with a playoff spot all year is due to their play against Metro Division opponents.

The New York Islanders enter Thursday night’s matchup against the Penguins sitting at 13-10-3 on the young season.

That is a solid enough pace to be at 29 points in 26 games played. The Isles already banged out about half their West Coast games this year with more to follow before the new year.

However, where the bulk of their success has been against is where it matters most.

The Islanders just lost to the Winnipeg Jets at home, but only after beating the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Coliseum the game before.

I know that is only a sample size of only two games, but those two games have been on par with the other 26.

The New York Islanders are at their best against Metro Division opponents. Not perfect anymore, but at their best.

Ahead of Thursday’s game vs the Pens, the Isles sit at 10-2-0  in the games they were playing against a division opponent.

It is simple math, but that adds up to 20 points. The Islanders have 29 points in total. That is a blistering rate.

Obviously, this is an encouraging thing. Most of the Islanders’ games will be vs teams in the Metro even with a slight fall-off, it would be massively impressive.

To break down the wins and losses, which the results are the only thing that truly matters, only one of the losses came at home. The other game at the Garden against the Rangers.

Five of those 10 wins, came on the road. That is the most impressive part.

In addition to the 20 points they have earned in these games and the road wins, the Islanders have scored six goals or more in three of the games. (7 vs the Rangers on 11-15, 6 vs the Pens on 10-30 and 6 again vs the Flyers on 10-27.)

So, in almost half the instances, the Islanders are not just winning, they are blowing out their opponents.

The only true duds they had vs teams in the division were a 5-0 loss to the Rangers, and a 4-1 loss in Barry Trotz’s first game vs the Capitals.

However, what I would also argue, and what is impressive, is the Islanders have gotten many close games to go their way.

After all, the best hockey teams find ways to win close games.

Of the 10 wins within the division, the Islanders won three of them in OT. There were two more games won by one goal.

The moral of the story  is the Isles’ success against the division is all that more impressive. They have constantly found ways to win these games.

Blowouts, three-goal wins, scoring-fests, one goal nail-biters.

You might be wondering, how are the Isles are doing this?

To me, the answer is simple. It is coaching.

Barry Trotz is doing a great job getting the most of out of his players in these games. The Isles step up massively when playing in these big rivalry games.

They play whistle to whistle and bank the points.

It can be aggravating because the Isles are basically terrible against every other division. 0-4-0 against the Central and 0-2-3 against the Atlantic.

So, the Islanders are clearly at their best when the games are the biggest.

It could have something to do with the fact that Barry Trotz led Capitals teams have twice won the Presidents Trophy and not the Cup that year.

The one year the Capitals won the Cup, they didn’t win the Presidents Trophy.

Obviously, that is just a coincidence. However, the Isles success in big games is not.

Perhaps Coach Trotz knows this team is not deep or talented enough to win every game, or even most games.

He likely realizes his job is best served when getting the Islanders to win against the opponents they will see the most.

If the Isles can’t win them all, then they might as well get them where they count. It will be quite intriguing to see how the rest of the season plays out.

The Islanders still have over 10 games left in the Metro this season. If they maintain that same pace, even win just nine of those games, that is wildly impressive.

Of course, the Islanders are going need to need to start earning more points vs everyone else too.

They are just barely staying in the last playoff spot and are in jeopardy of dropping down to less than one point a game.

However, if they keep winning the games that count the most, like the multiple they still have left vs the Rangers, Flyers, Jackets, Pens, Devils, Hurricanes, etc., I really like their chances to shock the world and make the playoffs.

It would help if their goaltending keeps playing above average too.

But, be aware, this article is almost about just how bad the Isles are against everyone else as it is how incredible they are vs the Metro, it shows encouraging signs, but also the work that needs to be done.