New York Islanders Five Christmas Gifts To Give To Five Players

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 22: Johnny Boychuk #55, John Tavares #91 and Josh Bailey #12 of the New York Islanders celebrate after scoring a goal in the second period agianst the Philadelphia Flyers during their game at Barclays Center on November 22, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 21: Jaroslav Halak /

Jaroslav Halak: Consistency

He hasn’t been outstanding this season, but Jaroslav Halak has been the better of the two goalies for the New York Islanders that’s for sure. His 0.906 SV% and 3.01 GAA aren’t great. But it’s leaps and bounds ahead of Thomas Greiss.

The Islanders need one of their two goalies to take the reins between the pipes. They need one of their shot-stoppers to put up at the very least NHL average goaltending numbers.

The goal scorers are doing their job to create offence, with the second highest goals-for number in the league at 130. The defensive side of things isn’t, allowing 127 goals against.

But over his last five games played, Halak has been starting to right the ship. If it weren’t for that clunker at home to the Dallas Stars his average would look pretty good.

And that’s just the issue. There isn’t consistency in Halak’s game right now. A consistent effort against Dallas probably means that the Isles don’t look so bad on that night – they’ll still lose cause the entire team played terribly – but more importantly, his stats might look a bit better.