Islanders: Anthony Beauvillier Deserved His Benching Last Night

Zdeno Chara, Josh Bailey, Zach Parise, Kyle Palmieri, Sebastian Aho, and others are prone to their fair share of criticism from the New York Islanders faithful. Sure, there is absolutely a reason to be frustrated with each one of those guys for a number of causes.

Someone who I think hasn't gotten nearly enough heat this year is Anthony Beauvillier. It's been a really rough go of it for Beau in his age 24 season, as he has just seven points and three goals in 21 games for the team.

Last night, Barry Trotz sat down Anthony Beauvillier for a large chunk of the game as he finished with just 10:55 of ice time. You know what? He deserved to sit last night.

The last time Anthony Beauvillier scored a goal was October 30. October! He's also gone 13 straight games without a point which at this point of his career is just unfathomable. Again, he's not the only one struggling but Barry was absolutely right for sitting him down.

The play that Barry was talking about was in the first period, after allowing the tying goal the Isles gave up the lead and he came off for a change when Nashville had possession going the other way. Add that on to his struggling offense and it was a recipe to sit.

Far too often the puck is bouncing over his stick, he doesn't anticipate the pass coming his way, it feels like he's pressing. Beauvillier is obviously a better player than what he's playing right now but he shouldn't just keep getting put out there hoping he'd snap out of it on his own, which is exactly what Barry Trotz did.

He's also sat Matt Martin in favor of Ross Johnston recently and that's helped a little bit too. Obviously people are still upset about Oliver Wahlstrom's playing time and some of the other lineup decisions but that one's a story for another day. For specifically Anthony Beauvillier, he deserved to sit for a bit and hopefully that snaps him out of it.