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

Where Pageau, Holmstrom, and Cizikas shine is, as previously mentioned, in their ability to reduce the other team's quantity of scoring chances against them. The Sharks and Blue Jackets combined could only generate four scoring chances and 0.72 xG against the Islanders' third line. Meanwhile, Pageau and Co. have created 15 scoring chances and 0.92 xGF against their opposition. They're also doing so while taking the majority of their faceoffs in the defensive zone, which the Barzal group does not do. Pageau's prowess on the draw and his line's better-than-average defending give Patrick Roy a clear choice when a big draw comes back to his end.

Circling back to where we began this article, discussing the impact of forward duos on coach thinking: Holmstrom and Pageau were a seldom-used pair for most of this season at 5v5. Where they've been linking up all season is on the PK. In fact, going back to the very first game against Utah, back on October 10, Pageau scored a shorthanded goal with Holmstrom in tow. That pair has seen minutes together at 4v5 going back to last season as well, and though the PK is only just starting to (maybe) turn a corner here in 2024-25, it seems as though Roy has found something in Simon and J-G playing together with Cizikas at 5v5.

Hopefully, these two performances extend into three and beyond. The Islanders need all the help they can get in the bottom six this season, and having a stout defensive-focused third line will allow Roy's top two units to continue wheeling offensively as they have.