Islanders Kieffer Bellows standing out at worlds

The New York Islanders only have two guys playing in the IIHF worlds out in Finland. Mathew Barzal is representing Team Canada and Kieffer Bellows is out there playing for Team USA.

If you want an update on how Barzal is going my colleague James Nichols wrote about Barzal's epic game for Team Canada earlier

New York Islanders Kieffer Bellows standing out at worlds

Kieffer Bellows ended the year on a high note with the New York Islanders. In his final nine games on the season, the Isles 2016 first-round selection put up two goals and six points. Add another 13 points through the rest of the season and it looked like Bellows was finally turning a corner in his career.

Obviously, Bellows didn't want to let up that momentum. Playing for Team USA in the Worlds was a great chance for him to maintain the good work he had done up to this point in the year.

Through eight games in the tournament, Bellows is tied for second in production on the team with five points (three goals and two helpers). Only Adam Gaudette (Ottawa) and Ben Meyers (Colorado) have more production with six points.

Where Bellows does lead the team is getting pucks on net. He's got 31 shots on goal so far. An average of 3.875 per game. So round it up to four shots on goal per game. Again, on goal. That doesn't count any blocked shots or the ones that go wide. Kieffer is clearly putting himself in a good spot and isn't hesitating to use his top-notch release.

Again, this tournament was to help Bellows maintain his forward trajectory. And I guess maybe win a medal for the US. And look, with the tournament that Bellows is having, he's absolutely maintaining that momentum. Thanks to that, the US have a semi-final date against host Finland on Saturday.