New York Islanders: 2018-19 was no fluke, but a beginning

A season to build on

This team was simply too good in too many ways for this to be a fluke. Isles fans witnessed fantastic play out of several players on the ice. Aside from  Barzal and the goalies, Jordan Eberle, Anders Lee, Scott Mayfield, Casey Cizikas all stepped up.

The Islanders outscored opponents by an average of 0.39 goals per game which was good enough for sixth place in terms of goal differential in the NHL. The Islanders simply did too many things correctly this year for it to be a fluke.

However, if the New York Islanders want to have any sort of success going forward they need to get out of that godforsaken Barclays Center. The building has no energy, everyone, including Calvin de Haan who now plays for the Hurricanes, knows that playing in that arena killed the Islanders home-ice advantage in the second round.

"“It’s great for us,” de Haan said on Thursday after practice. “It’s good for the away team. It kind of negates the home-ice advantage to a certain extent. I’ve played there [the Coliseum] and it’s loud and you do feed off of that. Whether you think of it or not, you do feed off the momentum of the crowd and it seemed to elevate everybody on the bench. But it is what it is. That’s Mr. Bettman’s decision, so, whatever.” via Newsday.com"

A change of venues can’t come soon enough. It’s estimated that their new arena at Belmont Park won’t be open until at least the 2021 season. This means that the Islanders will have to play at the Barclays Center for at least another year before making the move back to Long Island.

During the interim, the Islanders will split time between their old arena, Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and their other home in Brooklyn. The team and their fans will just have to wait for a decision in regards to that.

The New York Islanders had a fantastic season in 2018-19 and just because they were swept in the second round does not mean the Isles or their fans should be hanging their heads.