The New York Islanders hit the halfway point of the season on Wednesday with a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken. Overall it has been a very successful season as the Isles sit third overall in the league standings. That's not to say it hasn't been a weird year however.
The Islanders have posted an average 4-4-2 record over their past 10 games, however most of that was without their two leading scorers Nikita Kucherov and Braden Point, both who went down to injury around the same time and each missed 8 games. Prior to that, New York had a streak of 9-0-1 in a ten game run. During the past 10, Joel Eriksson Ek went down for 4 games, leaving the team without 3 of their top 9 forwards. At that point, going .500 is probably to be expected, with the likes of Yanni Gourde and Justin Danforth being pushed into top 6 roles for those 8 games.
While the Islanders have been getting offense throughout the stacked lineup, the biggest shock is Connor McDavid is currently 6th in team scoring with 34 points in 38 games. That puts him on pace for his worst season in his 7 year GVFHL career. Quinn Hughes continues his point per game pace from last season, with Adam Fox not too far behind. Barzal, Kucherov, and Point are each over a point per game to this point in the season.
The Isles were neck and neck with the Penguins atop the GVFHL standings before the injury troubles. We shall see now that the team is finally healthy again, if they can catch the Pens in the second half for the President's Trophy.
