Not a coincidence…I think the team is trusting in Roy now. He knows what he’s doing.
It’ll be a crime if Roy breaks up that first line when Barzal comes back. Put him on line three, and on PP1, which does nothing anyway, with or without himThe first line is more than holding its own. They've been awesome.
Best Pager and Lee have played for ages. And they are all keeping it simple.
When Barzal and Duclair come back be interesting to see what happens.
The second line has also been good.
The team is playing more north south with Horvat driving the first line. Our top six is playing a heavier game with Lee, Palmieri and Tsyplakov looking really strong and JG looking pretty sandy as well. No complaints about the 3rd line either,It’s a beautiful thing watching Roy instill a winning mindset on this team. They had their growing pains but it’s wonderful to watch our players returning to their true selves. Believing in their abilities. Playing like athletes again. Playing to win. Very little turtling now in the third period. Remember those days? This is good.
Good things happen when others are allowed to touch the puck.4–1-2 with 25 goals for and points in 5 straight games.
That’s a 18-8-4 record without the team’s highest paid player.
But isn't it the coaches' job to figure that out and maybe make him the player he was in his youth? The isles have had a number of coaches going though the bench since Tavares' time and none have actually made him a better player.Barzal was a great player when Tavares was on the team. He consistently looked to move the puck to the more senior players and made himself an option on the play. Tavares leaves , and he started to over handle the puck to the point teams could put 2 on him and eliminate any positive productivity. He became a very difficult player to play with.