The New York Islanders continue to dominate up the standings

The New York Islanders came into the 2022-23 season as one of the most intriguing teams in the league. They were very one of the most disappointing teams in the league in 2021-22 as they missed the playoffs after two straight conference final game sevens.

Everyone wanted to know if they were going to have a bounce-back season even though they have a veteran-loaded roster. Of course, Mat Barzal is a stud but they also get good production from guys like Brock Nelson, Anders Lee, Noah Dobson, and Oliver Wahlstrom amongst others.

They even have decent depth with guys like Kyle Palmieri and Zach Parise who both used to be stars in the league. Not to mention, they have one of the best goalies in the world named Ilya Sorokin. There is no doubt that they should be a playoff team if everything goes right.

It didn’t look like that was going to be the case as they started 2-4-0 in their first six games. Now, after five straight wins, they are 7-4-0 which is good for 14 standings points. They enter Saturday in 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division.

The New York Islanders are in the midst of a five-game winning streak.

In each of their five straight wins, they have won them all by more than one goal except for one. The one win by just one goal came over the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. The run that they are on right now is very impressive and they’d like to keep up the good play.

The Islanders have something very interesting about their team that they might want to think about. Of all 32 teams, they are the worst goal-scoring team in the first period with five goals.

On the flip side, they are second in the NHL with 20 third-period goals and it was just passed by the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night. For some reason, this team comes out slow offensively and finishes as strong as anybody.

Getting off to better starts in the first period might be a good way for them to keep up their dominance but they should be very happy with where they are right now.

With Lane Lambert in his first year as the head coach of this team, there is still a lot to evaluate but things are good right now.

It isn’t going to be easy to keep it up. The Metropolitan Division is loaded with great teams. The teams that used to be bad are good and the teams that have always been reliable are still there. Not everyone can make the playoffs so the Islanders will have to keep winning consistently to stay in it.