The Three NHL Teams Poised to Climb the Standings

New York Islanders

The New York Islanders have been to the past two Eastern Conference Finals. Their only problem is they keep losing in Game 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Their current team is built quite similar to the ones that reached the final four, with Matthew Barzal carrying the ball offensively and a solid, but not star studded supporting cast up front. The team has a good group of defenders, and gets great goaltending from Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin.

Their identity really is a terrific defensive team that suffocates its opponent and scores just enough to win games. That identity has been in place this season, except they haven’t been winning as many games as usual.

The reason? Well, the Isles have played 13 games this season and every one of them has been on the road. Their new building was not ready for the beginning of the season, so they haven’t played a home game yet. That will change on Saturday night when they host the Calgary Flames.

Expect the team to start winning more often.

They have a bit of a hole to dig themselves out of, as they sit last in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-6-2 record. The Islanders actually started the season quite well, going 5-2-2 in their first nine road games, but they ran out of gas on their trip and lost the final four. Now, they get three days off to rest before finally playing a game on home ice.

Don’t let the end of a ridiculous 13 game road trip fool you, the New York Islanders are every bit as good as they were the past two seasons when they lost in the Stanley Cup semifinals.