New York Islanders Flip-Flop on 5 on 5

The New York Islanders are in the midst of an early season slide. Well below the .500 mark it takes to stay relevant in the playoff conversation few things are going right. So when they dominate the Lightning 5-on-5, you’d think they’d try and hammer that course of action. You’d think.

The New York Islanders stroll into Sunrise, Florida after dominating the Tampa Bay Lightning in 5-on-5 play. Though they still lost 4-1. But darn it, they won the even strength test.

So naturally, they should be doing the same when they faceoff against. Well, you’d be wrong about that.

More from Editorials

• Islanders key to success: Load management with goalies
• Islanders Zdeno Chara trending in the right direction
• Islanders: Semyon Varlamov Deserves Benefit of the Doubt
• Islanders Ilya Sorokin becoming number one goalie
• Islanders Zach Parise Was Quiet in Return to Minnesota

After the first 20 minutes, the Panthers were up 65% to Islanders 34% on the good ol’ 5-on-5 Corsi charts according to Corsica.Hockey.

Let’s remember that coach Jack Capuano made a point to state how good the Islanders were on 5-on-5. It’s maddening when everything seems to be going wrong and the coach comes out and focuses on a single aspect of the game.

“Yeah we got blowout of the building on the scoresheet. But did you see the 5-on-5?!”

Now that the Isles shifted to the other side of the state they just can’t get going on 5-on-5. The Isles ended the period on top thanks to tied leading scorer Brock Nelson.

Next: Less is More for the Isles Penalty Kill

I understand this is a different team, with a different system, but to go from being absolutely dominant to borderline absent (again, thanks to Brock Nelson for it not being absolutely absent). Hopefully that can change with the 40 minutes that remain.