NY Islanders Third Line Quietly Effective in Back-to-Back Wins

During the second period of Monday's 3-1 Islanders win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, Cory Schneider mentioned on the MSG broadcast how a lot of times coaches like to find a forward duo who works well together, rather than looking for the perfect trio right away. Schneider was referencing Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, who had just linked up on the power play for Horvat's second goal of the night, making it 3-1. But the quote stuck in my head, and my mind kept going back to the second Islanders goal, scored shorthanded by Simon Holmstrom, and assisted by J-G Pageau.

If there's a storyline that jumps off the page from the New York Islanders' recent back-to-back wins, maybe it's the happy reunion of Barzal and Horvat. Or, maybe the strong goaltending has backstopped the team to four points. The penalty kill's sudden and unexpected resurgence, or hypothesizing about the severity of Noah Dobson's injury from Monday night's win. In that whirlwind of stories, it can be easy to overlook some of the smaller things, like the sneakily excellent play of Holmstrom and Pageau, and the Isles' new-look third line.

Line Tinkering, Individual Struggles

The Islanders had not seen consistently strong play from their third line since October when Head Coach Patrick Roy was forced to break up the Anders Lee, JG Pageau, and Simon Holmstrom trio following the Anthony Duclair injury. Holmstrom moved up to play with Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal, looked lost there for a short while, and then found himself sliding back into a middle-six role following Barzal's own injury and subsequent absence. He stuck with Pierre Engvall and Casey Cizikas for a while, but that trio never really found much success outside of Engvall's brief shooting heater.

Cizikas, one of the longest-tenured members of this Islanders group, has bounced around the bottom six all season, playing with new linemates every ten games or so. Those linemates include Matt Martin, Hudson Fasching, Holmstrom, Engvall, Oliver Wahlstrom, Kyle MacLean, and more. He's found limited success with each of them. In his 129:10 of TOI with Engvall and Holmstrom this season, the Islanders have owned just 42% of all shot attempts, and 38% of the expected goal share, according to Natural Stat Trick.