NY Islanders: 5 moments from Alexander Romanov you’ll love

Romanov's heads up assist

This highlight reel won't just consist of big hits by Romanov. One year to the day prior to the Lafferty hit, Romanov displayed heads-up playmaking ability in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs in his first ever NHL regular season game.

The puck was in the Canadiens' end with Romanov looking to set up a rush. Both Montreal and Toronto called for line changes with the puck on the end of Romanov's stick. Over the boards came Tomáš Tatar in the neutral zone toward the Maple Leafs blue line and in front of him he saw a clean sheet of ice and only Maple Leafs netminder, Frederik Anderson. Romanov with his head up the entire play stick handles the puck, reads the neutral zone with the line changes happening simultaneously, finds Tatar wide open, and puts a perfect pass on the back of his stick to spring him for a breakaway. Tatar beat Anderson five-hole to give the Canadiens the 3-1 lead.

Romanov's first point in his NHL regular season career was a heads-up play taking advantage of a team in transition. Traditionally, Romanov doesn't collect a ton of points in a season, but at just 22 years old, you can see the untapped offensive potential that has been spoken regarding his game. This summer, Romanov admitted to working more with "puck skills," acknowledging the need to improve in that area, opening the possibility to see plays like this one more often.