The New York Islanders didn’t exactly ease into their matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay came out leaning on its usual physical identity and had the Islanders on their heels early, building a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period.
New York needed something to jolt it awake, and it got it from Logan Stanley.
The defenseman, signed after training camp and just before the regular season started, has quickly become more than just an add-on for this roster. In five games, Stanley has four assists, a plus/minus of +3 and 17 penalty minutes. That stat line tells the story pretty cleanly: he’s producing, he’s defending, and he’s not backing away from the rough stuff.
He was noticeable before the gloves even came off. At the end of the first period, Stanley was seen talking to players on the Lightning bench. Then, in the second period, he dropped the gloves with Scott Sabourin, and the energy shifted.
“I didn’t love a couple of our lines early and I had given some of those lines some runway hoping that it works but it was time for a change,” DeBoer said, via Tyler Millen of NHL.com. “I would also add that I think the Stanley scrap got us involved in the game too. I think it was the line changes were a piece, but I think Stan kind of dragged us into the fight there.”
That spark mattered. After DeBoer shuffled his lines, moving Ondrej Palat to the third line in place of Simon Holmstrom, who dropped to the fourth, the Islanders found some life. Tony DeAngelo scored to cut the deficit in half, and the bench response seemed to grow from there.
Matthew Schaefer made it clear where he thought that shift began.
“It starts with Stans [Stanley] obviously dropping the mitts just riding for our team, answering the bell, getting us going,” Schaefer added. “I think that is where it started.
Tony [DeAngelo] gets one, and then obviously (a) good screen in front on mine, and it just found its way in. It's fun when we're when we're you know going and we're moving like that.
We had a couple shifts there where we were hemming them in their zone, and we just kept going to work and it's fun.”
From there, New York started matching Tampa Bay’s edge instead of absorbing it. The forecheck picked up, and the Islanders were more willing to finish checks and play through contact. Bo Horvat, Brayden Schenn and Victor Eklund each finished with four hits, and the Islanders out-hit the Lightning 30-18.
Stanley’s fight with Sabourin was the moment that seemed to pull the whole group into the game. Since arriving, he’s given New York exactly the kind of edge it was looking for, and with Schaefer now on a line with him, Stanley is making his presence felt at both ends of the ice.
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Matthew Schaefers Early Islanders Role Already Looks Bigger Than Expected
Matthew Schaefers first five games with the Islanders have already looked like the kind of workload usually reserved for a much more seasoned defenseman. The 19-year-old has been leaned on heavily, logging major minutes, seeing important power-play time and showing up at the center of a lot of the teams best puck-moving stretches. Even with plenty of shifts starting in his own end, he has helped drive shot generation at 5-on-5 and has quickly made himself hard to ignore.
The early returns have also shown the growing pains that come with that kind of responsibility. Schaefer has four assists and still is looking for his first goal, while the turnover count has been a reminder that he is handling a big offensive and defensive load at once. For the Islanders, the bigger question now is not whether he belongs in the lineup, but how far theyre willing to push his role as the season settles in. [Read more 🡒]
Mathew Barzal Faces His Biggest Islanders Test Yet
The Islanders have gotten the kind of uneven start that can tell you a lot about where a team stands before the schedule really settles in. Bo Horvat, Logan Stanley and Ilya Sorokin have given New York some strong performances, but the bigger-picture issues remain, especially with Alexander Romanov sidelined by an ACL injury and the blue line already feeling the strain of missing a regular.
Mathew Barzals next step figures to matter just as much as any result on the ice. The star forward is working back from a knee injury and has recently resumed skating, which gives the Islanders hope that help is coming, but it also leaves Peter DeBoer with an important lineup decision that could ripple through the forward group once Barzal is ready to return. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Prospect Just Made A Stronger Case To Rise Fast
Vladimir Draveck has been giving the Islanders something to monitor closely since signing his three-year, entry-level deal, and his latest outing in Guelph only added to the buzz. The winger kept building his case with a strong offensive night for the Storm, part of a high-scoring win that showed just how much he can tilt a game when he is rolling.
Draveck was not the only prospect making noise, either. Tomas Poletn and Bobby Cowan also turned in notable performances in their respective games, each contributing multiple points for their teams, a reminder that New Yorks pipeline has more than one player worth tracking as the season moves along. [Read more 🡒]