Finding Their Way
By David Silverman
It was time for a change and the new ownership group knew it. Six weeks after the 2017-18 season ended with the Islanders missing the postseason for a second straight year, Hall of Fame executive Lou Lamoriello was brought on as the Islanders’ president of hockey operations. Two weeks later Lamoriello took over as general manager as well, and his first move was a beauty; he hired Barry Trotz – at the time, the fifth-winningest coach in NHL history – to be the Islanders’ new head coach.
Lamoriello and Trotz were no strangers to winning Stanley Cups. Trotz was coming off his Stanley Cup victory with the Washington Capitals, and they both seemed to mirror the approach of their predecessors from the early 70’s — Bill Torrey and Al Arbour. Their first order of business was to re-establish and reinforce the Islander Way: culture first, and the rest will follow. Work hard. Know your role. Never give up. Protect your teammates. The Islanders have a long tradition of team-oriented play, but the reminders from Trotz and his team of coaches were loud, clear and omnipresent.
The immediate task was preaching accountability — specifically defensive responsibility. Trotz made Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech his top defensive pair, and they grew into their roles quickly, logging more and more minutes against opponents’ top lines and becoming one of the top shut-down pairs in the league. Mathew Barzal lit up the league the year before, but despite his Calder Trophy, Trotz demanded more of a 200-foot game from the dynamic center. Barzal’s all-around performance evolved as the season progressed, and he explained what it was like to play for the new coach and GM like this: “A little more detail, a little more under the gun. Expectations felt a little bit higher. I don't know if that's just the Lou effect or what that is, or the Barry effect, I don't know. But everyone's working hard, everyone's being detailed. The quicker we can pick up those good habits, the quicker we're going to be able to be a good team."
And become a good team they did. New goalie Robin Lehner sparkled, and the new defensive structure took hold. The Islanders went from worst to first in goals-against — giving up 100 fewer goals than they did the year before. Lehner and Thomas Greiss not only broke the franchise record (from 1975–76) for shutouts with 11, they also shared the Jennings Trophy for the fewest goals allowed in the league. To top it all off, Lehner was awarded the Masterton Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey for overcoming addiction, a bi-polar diagnosis and becoming a mental health advocate. Both goalies were terrific, but the defensive turnaround was the product of an entire team working together, playing their roles and following their coaches’ defensive structure.
Analytically speaking, this team completely defied the odds. They had lost their captain over the summer when John Tavares and his 84 points departed for Toronto. As a result, hockey experts everywhere left the Islanders for dead before the season had even begun. To make matters worse, production from many of their top scorers was down. Barzal notched 23 points fewer than the year before, and Josh Bailey, Jordan Eberle, newly minted captain Anders Lee, Anthony Beauvillier, and Nick Leddy also had significant drop off in points. (Forwards Brock Nelson and Casey Czikas increased their totals, as did defensemen Pulock and Pelech, but those were mostly small to moderate increases.) And yet, when the season ended, the Islanders’ record was 48-27-7 for a total of 103 points – a 23-point jump over the prior season, and good enough for second in the Metropolitan Division. The sum was literally greater than the whole of the parts.
Tavares was gone. Jaroslav Halak was replaced by Lehner, and the team added a few supporting players, which included the return of Matt Martin, but the core was essentially the same. How else to account for the vast improvement but coaching and culture? Both Trotz and Lamoriello preached togetherness. “If you want to go somewhere fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a group,” Trotz told his team. And they listened.
Over the course of the season, the Islanders became more cohesive, learning to rely on each other both on and off the ice. And the winning served to reinforce the lessons from Trotz, which helped foster more come-from-behind theatrics. Take the Miracle in Manitoba against the Winnipeg Jets. The Isles gave up a goal just 13 seconds into the game and played from behind all night. They finally tied the game 4-4 with only 1:46 remaining and won it 33 seconds later on a goal by Eberle, who said, "It's a huge character win for the team. It's one of those games that builds your team and moves you forward." Victories like that were born of the work the Islanders put into practice, believing in each other, and knowing they always had a chance to win, no matter the opponent or the score.
Despite finishing only one point behind Washington for the division title and fifth-overall in the league, they still entered the first round of the playoffs as underdogs to Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s a role the team learned to relish and then exploit in the years that followed, defying expert opinions and advanced analytics with their ability to maintain their defensive structure, absorb time in their zone without giving up high-danger chances, even getting outshot — sometimes heavily — but still manage to get quality chances and bury them.
One more change the Islanders adapted to during the season was a change of scenery. Barclays Center hadn’t been designed with hockey in mind, and in February 2018, ownership announced the team would be returning to a revitalized Nassau Coliseum for half of their home games. The fan support all season long was, to borrow from David Byrne – Same as it Ever Was – which is to say spectacular. And it promised to be even better when it was announced the Isles would play their first playoff game in the Coliseum with home ice advantage since 1988.
Advantage is exactly what they took – winning both games at home. In the first, Lehner made 41 saves and Bailey made each one of them count, scoring the overtime winner quickly, at 4:39. Game Two featured a goal and an assist from Eberle in a 3-1 victory. And the Isles’ momentum carried them through two more victories in Pittsburgh and a series sweep.
Is there such a thing as being too good? Probably not, but the sweep left the Islanders on the sidelines while the Carolina Hurricanes’ battle with the Caps went the distance. Nine days off is a long time to keep your mojo, and coming off their double OT victory in game seven, Carolina returned the favor, promptly sweeping the Isles in four.
Being eliminated so quickly by the Canes was tough, but there was no denying the culture was shifting. It showed both on the ice and off as fans flocked to see the Islanders winning playoff games in the Coliseum once again. It was also clear in the way the players carried themselves, in the way they played, and in the results they got. Mostly though, it was a sign they’d turned a corner and a hint of things to come.