NY Islanders: Top 3 Mathew Barzal moments of the 2022-23 season
SCORING STREAK
When the calendar flipped to 2023, the Islanders started the new year on a West Coast trip that started in Seattle and went to Western Canada. Outside of a game in Vancouver, the Islanders struggled to score in a trend that would daunt them throughout the month.
The one exception was Barzal. Barzal scored a goal for the fifth straight game at 4:42 of the second period when Josh Bailey neatly slid a pass to him at the right circle. Barzal stopped it on his backhand and let go a quick wrist shot to cut the Edmonton lead to 2-1.
With the goal, Barzal extended his goal-scoring streak to a career-best five games; After not scoring a goal over the first 19 games of the season, he had a team-leading 11 goals over the next 22 games and was tied for 3rd place on the team in goals with Zach Parise.