New York Islanders Three Stars From 4-2 Caps Win

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Dec 27, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; New York Islanders center Alan Quine (10) turns the puck away from Washington Capitals center Jay Beagle (83) during the first period at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /

A. 2 Assists, +2 Rating. New York Islanders. . Alan Quine

Alan Quine has been excellent over the last few weeks, and in last night’s game against the Capitals, there was no exception. Quine finished the night with two assists and a nice +2 rating and helped the Isles walk out with a 100% efficiency on the penalty kill.

Which has been something of a rarity lately. Over the last two weeks, the Isles have managed a 70% efficiency on the penalty kill. Aggregate that over the season and that’s good enough for dead last in the league. Keep in mind that the Isles ranked 4th by season end in 2015-16 for PK%. That’s a mighty drop.

Just as an aside, the Islanders are currently ranked 20th in PK% with 79.8%.
https://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/team-penalty-kill-percentage/2016/

Back to Quine. I know some of you will say that +/- is a flawed stat. It doesn’t account for everything and can be somewhat misleading. But with nearly three minutes (2:57) of shorthanded ice-time against the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and friends, you almost expect the Capitals to get one on the man-advantage.

Heck, they had four opportunities to do so last night but Quine and the other Isles penalty killers (Tavares had 4:11 of shorthanded ice-time by-the-way) were able to negate that offensive firepower.

That’s why he gets a second star. Quine completed his defensive duties perfectly well and was even able to create some offense of his own. That’s everything a team can hope for, that players throughout the lineup produce.