BROOKLYN — No one could have seen this coming. Don’t believe anyone who tells you they did.
The New York Islanders lost 30 of their final 45 games as they sputtered to a 22nd-place finish in the standings last season.
It was unimaginable that they’d win eight of their first 13 games with their best player, John Tavares, ditching them this summer to sign a lucrative contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Josh Bailey and Anders Lee, who combined for 133 points as Tavares’ linemates were supposed to shrink in his absence. Brock Nelson couldn’t possibly serve as an adequate replacement. And though Mathew Barzal may have taken home Rookie-of-the-Year honours as the NHL’s Calder Trophy winner this past June, it would have been too much to ask for him to be ready to fill Tavares’ skates at both ends of the rink by October.
On the back end, the team which struggled mightily to defend last season, giving up a league-worst 296 goals, lost one of its best blue liners in Calvin de Haan to free agency and brought in 28-year-old Luca Sbisa on a tryout. No one was painting that as a wash.
And in net, Jaroslav Halak left for the Boston Bruins while beleaguered goaltender Robin Lehner was brought in from the Buffalo Sabres. They may have had identical numbers for their respective teams a season ago, but few would have pegged Lehner as the answer to New York’s woes in goal.
It was consensus that Stanley Cup-winning coach Barry Trotz, who was signed over the summer, was going to have a hard time getting this Islanders team to defy the odds.
“The fact is they’ve won five games in a row, and where they’re good is they’re really closing the play well and they’re not giving other teams much,” said Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien on Monday morning prior to his team’s first game against the Islanders.
“It’s not surprising to me, either, with the way Barry coaches,” Julien added. “He’s always good at getting his message across and getting his players to buy in. That’s why they won in Washington and that’s why they’re having success right now, here on the Island.”
It is the same recipe that has allowed the Canadiens to surprise out of the gate, starting 7-4-2, beating A-level teams like the Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals along the way, and not allowing themselves to lose consecutive games to this point.
Another similarity between the teams is that they’re getting contributions from everyone.
It was after a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes last Sunday that Trotz said, “We need all 20 guys to be successful. We don’t have the game-breakers some other teams have.”
Bailey (three goals, 12 assists), Lee (five goals, eight assists) and Nelson (team-leading seven goals) have done their part, and Barzal has contributed a goal and 11 assists. But it doesn’t end there.
Valtteri Filppula, Jordan Eberle and Casey Cizikas each have seven points and Andrew Ladd has scored six. The defence has been steady, while Lehner and Monday’s starter Thomas Greiss have been otherworldly.
Greiss, who’s coming off a 35-save shutout of the New Jersey Devils, is rocking a .944 save percentage and an infinitesimal 1.85 goals-against average.
No one would have guessed that a game against the Islanders would present one of the biggest tests the Canadiens could face in the early part of this season. But there’s no denying it, with New York at 8-4-1 and leading the Metropolitan Division.
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“Tonight’s going to be a matter of us playing our game but not getting frustrated,” said Julien. “At the same time, we’ve got to tighten up our game because we’ve been giving up too much on the offensive side of things.
“We’re giving up too much room and too many chances.”
The Canadiens will also rely on backup Antti Niemi to be up to the task after going 2-1 and posting an .898 save percentage through his first three starts.
No other changes are expected to their lineup, which lost 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
“No matter how well we played Saturday, we lost,” said Julien. “We have to bounce back with a good win tonight.”
That will be a tall task.
