Canucks Game Night: No offense, but Barry Trotz’s Islanders aren’t slouches on defense

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The Vancouver Canucks will be back in action just 24 hours after facing the Arizona Coyotes Tuesday night, hosting a rested New York Islanders squad at Rogers Arena

Coquitlam native Mathew Barzal, as expected, leads the Islanders in scoring with 10 goals and 28 points in 36 games, but the team's offense is pretty mediocre.
Coquitlam native Mathew Barzal, as expected, leads the Islanders in scoring with 10 goals and 28 points in 36 games, but the team’s offense is pretty mediocre. Photo by Steven Ryan /Getty Imagesfiles

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

16-17-6, 6th in Central Division

at VANCOUVER CANUCKS

20-20-6, 7th in Pacific Division

(before Tuesday game)

tonight7:30 p.m. PT, Rogers Arena

TV: Sportsnet. Radio: Sportsnet 650.

WHY WATCH

Dreaming of goals

Islanders coach Barry Trotz runs a tight ship. It’s been his key to his success and has kept him in the NHL for more than two decades. But his defense-above-all-else style of him isn’t exactly optimized for a thrilling forward like Mathew Barzal, who won the Calder Trophy a season before Trotz arrived as head coach on Long Island. Still, he’s there to be a game breaker and he will strike a blow if you let your guard down. At the other end of the ice, the Canucks have a fun set of forwards but they haven’t set the league afire this season. This game should be low scoring but surely it won’t be, right?

LEADER POINTS

CANUCKS

1. JT Miller GP 44 W 15 A 29 PTS 44 (+5)

2. Quinn Hughes GP 45 W 2 A 31 PTS 35 (+10)

3. Brock Boeser GP 40 G 12 A 12 PTS 24 (-5)

ISLANDERS

1. Mathew Barzal GP 36 G 10 A 18 PTS 28 (-7)

2. Brock Nelson GP 30 G 14 A 8 PTS 22 (-4)

3. Josh Bailey GP 34 W 3 A 17 PTS 20 (-4)

SPECIAL TEAMS

CANUCKS: PP 18.9% (20th) PK 69.9% (32nd)

ISLANDERS: PP 17.7% (23rd) PK 82.8% (9th)

THREE THINGS ABOUT THE ISLANDERS

• popgun: Averaging just 2.36 goals for per game, the Islanders have the NHL’s third worst offense. Barzal is the team leader in scoring, but it’s pretty mediocre. And it’s not for lack of trying: According to HockeyViz.com, the Islanders are terrible finishers, having left nearly 30 goals on the table based on where they’ve taken their shots from this season and the goals you would expect from those shots.

• Busy schedule to eat: The Isles will have played eight fewer games than the Canucks heading into Wednesday’s contest. They had nine games postponed earlier this season because of COVID-19 concerns and in all have seen 13 games rescheduled to accommodate their rejigged schedule. Including Wednesday’s game, they have 43 games left to play in the regular season.

• Batten down the hatches: After yielding more chances to the opposition than they were getting on their opponents’ nets, the Islanders have turned their efforts in a positive direction of late, with NaturalStatTrick saying they’ve been outchancing the opposition over the past 10 games or so. Much of this is because they’ve just made it hard to get shots on their net.

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