Islanders: Can Jordan Eberle Repeat 2019 Clutch Playoff Run?

Last year, Jordan Eberle got hot at the end of the year and it carried over into the playoffs. Can he do it again this year?

The 2018-2019 season, as a whole, is a season that Jordan Eberle would like to forget. While the New York Islanders surprised a ton of people, and then swept the Penguins, Eberle for the majority of the season was a nonfactor.

He had just 19 goals and 37 points during the regular season, and five of his goals were in the final seven games. So through 71 games, he had just 14 goals on the season.

Heading into the playoffs, it was pretty clear that he was hot, and that momentum continued. In the Pittsburgh series, he scored four goals, one in each of the four games, and had two assists to go along with it.

He was without question, the best offensive player in that series. While the Isles ended up getting swept in the second round, a large part because the offense just went away, Eberle was still solid putting up three points in the four games.

Through eight playoff games in 2019, Eberle had himself nine points (4 goals, 5 assists). That begs the question, can he do it again in 2020?

Well during the regular season, Eberle had 40 points in 58 games a step forward from his performance the previous year. While his performance as a whole was better this year, I’d argue that it would be harder for him to replicate the performance that he did last year.

When you’re off for four months, it’s hard to carry over any momentum. It’s like these guys are starting fresh with a new season in the playoffs, and it’s not like Eberle has gotten off to the hottest of starts in each of his three years with the Islanders.

This year it took 15 games for him to score his first goal, last year it took eight games, and in his first year, it took 11 games.

Want your voice heard? Join the Eyes On Isles team!

Write for us!

As one of the Islanders top-six forwards, he certainly has a chance to get hot and put up production, but I’d bet that it’ll likely be someone else who has a monster playoffs rather than the guy it just happened to last year.