New York Islanders: Anthony Beauvillier, Josh Bailey need to raise their game
These two players will need to really step it up for the New York Islanders now.
With the news breaking on Tuesday that Captain Anders Lee is out for the season with a torn A.C.L., the New York Islanders need to see a few players raise their level of play. Top-line center Mat Barzal was the difference-maker early in the regular-season and now will be called upon again to put the team on his back as they try to navigate through their tough schedule down the stretch.
But Barzal cannot do it all, and it is time for players who have been MIA all season to start contributing at a significantly higher rate moving forward. Although the Islanders would like to see each line raise their compete level, the two players that need to show something in the second half of the season are Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Bailey.
New York Islanders need more from Anthony Beauvillier & Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier
For Anthony Beauvillier, it has been a rather rough season. After a slow start, he fell victim to an upper-body injury which kept him out of the lineup for nine games. But since returning, he has two goals and three assists in 16 games. Given his RFA status and the Islanders’ salary cap issues, the 23-year old forward has to start converting at a higher rate.
Beauvillier plays at his best when he is creating in the offensive zone. In the 2019-2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Quebec-native put up nine goals and five assists in 22 games, as he played a significant role in the Islanders’ long Playoff run.
He shot at a 13.4% clip and had added a clutch factor to his game.
But Beau, as they call him, is a streaky player, and unfortunately, he is cold as he has now gone six games without a point. In Lee’s absence, Beauvillier needs to start scoring, plain and simple. He needs to showcase to his team that he is the player who tore it up in the postseason, not the player we have seen this season.
Before this season, no. 18 had scored 18 or more goals in each season since 2017. While this season is only 56 games, that translates to at least 12 goals. With just 26 more games to go on the schedule, that means Beauvillier would need at least ten goals for him to be comparable to his last three seasons. And as a streaky player, that is not out of the question. But at the end of the day, he does not have to be as good as he was last year. He just needs to contribute.
That starts with him finishing off chances that his linemates create and using his speed to generate chances for his teammates in the offensive zone.
Back on March 9th, Beauvillier did come up huge for his team, as his Shootout goal gave the Islanders the lead and ultimately the win.
Anthony Beauvillier SO winner. Silky. pic.twitter.com/xM5ALkcVRS
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) March 10, 2021
This silky move was a sign of confidence, which has been lacking from his game the entire season. He showcased the clutch factor we saw last season and helped his team collect a major two points against a very tough Boston Bruins team.
With Lee out, if Beauvillier could get those timely goals, this Islander team should be able to stay towards the top of the East Standings. But if he struggles, that is just more pressure on other guys to carry the load and, despite the Islanders having depth scoring this season, it will be tested now more than ever.
Josh Bailey
After putting the team on his back last postseason with two goals and 18 assists in 22 games, Josh Bailey has been invisible this season. In 30 games, the Ontario native has three goals and 12 assists, which looks solid as he has averaged a point every other game. But if you watch him play, it is just a complete disaster.
Although he has a goal and an assist over his last five games, it seems that the NHL game is moving too fast for the 31-year old. It just looks as if he is moving in slow motion out there. Head Coach Barry Trotz has stated that Bailey is a player that does more than meets the eye and has a relatively high hockey I.Q., but this Islanders team needs more than just a smart player. Now I spoke about Anthony Beauvillier and his struggles in the previous slide, and Bailey has not helped his case as they play on the same line.
What made Bailey so dominant in the 2019-20 Stanley Cup Playoffs was that he was making those crisp, intelligent passes to his teammates, and they were executing. This season, he has not hit his teammates in stride with those passes, which has resulted in missed opportunities. In the last game against the Washington Capitals, a team he played pretty well against in their Playoff series a year ago, he was lackluster, as he was not hard on his stick, bobbling pucks, and making poor decisions.
Coach Trotz moved Bailey up from the second-line this season to kickstart the top-line and get the second-line going. While Jordan Eberle looked like a completely new player alongside Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier (Dal Colle in his absence), Bailey could not find his game.
Despite his struggles, Bailey is still a player relied upon on the top power play unit. But he does not seem to belong out there. He fails to make the quick passes needed, and the power play, which had been a strongsuit early on, has been abysmal over the last handful of games. Given their loss of one of their better scorers in Anders Lee, the power play needs to find a way moving forward to help counteract whatever struggles may come at 5-on-5.
That means Bailey needs to find a way to alleviate that pressure and make some big-time plays down the stretch with the man advantage.
Final Thoughts
Although we want to see these two players step up, they are not the only ones that need to do a significantly better job. Brock Nelson needs to hit the net more when given his opportunities, while Jordan Eberle and Jean-Gabriel Pageau need to find a way to get back to their scoring ways as well. It will take a total team effort for the Islanders to finish in a top-four spot and mimick what we saw last postseason, if applicable.
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The Islanders start a three-game series tonight against a Philadelphia Flyers team that just lost 9-0 to the New York Rangers and have shown that their defense is so weak and their goaltending is nothing to praise. This would be the series for these Islander players to find their game and build up some confidence.