New York Islanders: 3 stars of from the first 30 games of the season

Anthony Beauvillier

Anthony Beauvillier is the perfect example of what you wanted to see from the Islanders team this season.

Not only is he finally scoring goals and producing, he is showing that some of the early season struggles were from a lack of understanding assignments and not a lack of talent.

Beau has been on basically every line this season. The Isles coaching staff worked really hard to get something for him to stick and emerge.

He has done exactly that in the last 15 games or so.

Had this list been created two months ago, Beauvillier would have been an after thought. He would have been higher on a list that talked about player who need to go to the AHL team in Bridgeport.

But now, Beauvillier is one of the stars of the season.

Why?

Beauvillier is scoring goals. He is producing the one thing the Islanders have badly needed the last few weeks.

In the last 13 games he has played, he has eight goals. Now,  I understand that is far from an elite pace. However, he only has those goals on the entire season.

So to say he was struggling in the beginning of the season would be a gross understatement.

Beauvillier is a great asset to have. Not only he is no longer shattering my heart and coming off as another classic Islanders draft bust, but he is somewhat of an asset.

He rarely starts, yet is coming in and is capable of scoring goals.

Just to throw in, he has three goals against the Rangers, one vs the Blue Jackets and Penguins each at the Coliseum.

So, some of the biggest games this season he has been the guy.

Beauvillier has a long way to go in terms of becoming a consistent threat on offense, but the signs are promising considering where he was and considering how many games the Islanders actually still have left.

He is a big piece to what the Islanders have done this year, will do this year, and will be beyond this year.