WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Islanders are lastly out of the NHL’s basement on the penalty kill.
And a minimum of for now, they seem to have solved an issue that plagued them for 2 straight seasons.
“I think when things were going poorly at the start of the season, we obviously had no confidence in the penalty kill,” Adam Pelech stated earlier than the Isles went 2-for-2 on the PK towards the Jets’ league-leading energy play, albeit in a 4-3 defeat. “Right now, it’s the complete opposite. We have so much confidence in the penalty kill.”
It’s no coincidence that the turnaround at four-on-five has gone hand in hand with the turnaround of the season at giant.
After Friday, the Islanders have killed off 27 of their final 29 penalties over their 15 video games, a span over which they held an 11-4-0 document.
Calling it a sea change could be an understatement.
Over the season’s first 39 video games, the Islanders solely went consecutive video games with out permitting a power-play aim 5 occasions, and had been on tempo to be the worst PK for the reason that NHL began preserving observe in 1977-78.
“I think the biggest change is we’ve probably been a little more passive at times,” Pelech stated. “We got in trouble trying to be too aggressive. You still need to be aggressive at the right times, if there’s loose pucks or puck battles, you need to be aggressive and get the clears. But I think we’ve done a good job of almost having discipline in the way that we’re passive. Not overextending ourselves and protecting dangerous areas of the ice.”
That’s totally different — actually, it’s the exact opposite — of what you often hear about penalty killing, the place aggression is usually the secret.
“We’re talking a lot about putting pressure and being aggressive on the puck carrier, but penalty killing’s a little different,” coach Patrick Roy stated. “Now, the guys want you to be outside them. So if you get outside, that opens up the middle and this is where you need to be patient. Our guys are doing that really well.”
Mike Reilly (coronary heart) made the journey to Winnipeg with the crew and was on the ice Friday morning.
Nonetheless, there was no change in his standing — Reilly didn’t take contact and was solely on the journey as a result of it finishes in Minnesota, the place he’s from, with the 4 Nations break instantly following.
