Nick Leddy joined Daren Millard on Hockey Central at Noon to discuss the Islanders recent success — and their key to it.
The New York Islanders home record through nine games stands at 7-0-2, continuing to prove that players hate commuting to Brooklyn as much as some of the fans.
To put it in perspective: the last time the Islanders earned at least a point through their first nine home games was in the year 1978.
Nick Leddy earlier with @darenmillard and The Hockey at Noon crew on why the #Isles are having so much success at the Barclays Center this year:
“The ice surface has gotten a lot better.”
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) November 27, 2017
“I think even last year we had a pretty good record as well. Obviously we feel comfortable there, and with the crowd being behind you at all times, that’s obviously huge. The ice surface has gotten a lot better this year, and I think those things have helped us and we stick to our game plan really well there,”
“On pro ice as the period goes on, the ice gets a little snowy and choppy, but this year you can tell it has been a lot better than years past.”
Those comments will be very refreshing to the ears of Isles fans, and even more so to executives like Brett Yormark, who have had to stave off questions about the ice left and right last season.
Since moving to the Barclays, the Islanders and the arena itself have fallen victim to endless scrutiny over what’s going onto three seasons, but the comments regarding the lacking ice have subsided in the midst of the Islanders’ success at home.
The climax of the issue arose late last season when John Tavares went down with a leg injury and Cal Clutterbuck blasted the ice as the primary reason for the captain’s fate.
All of that is in the rear-view mirror as the Islanders will look to earn points in 10-straight home games tomorrow night against the Vancouver Canucks.
Through the last two seasons, the Islanders have compiled a pretty good record at home: 25-11-5 in 2015-16 and 22-12-7 in 2016-17. While they’re only a decent road team, their home record has kept them within the playoff race the last two seasons. For comparison, the 2014-15 team was 25-14-2 at home.
Ironically, all of this success in Brooklyn comes during a time where the Islanders seem almost eager to find a way out of the arena in spite of their point total.
Fans felt it from the home opener on October 7th, the Barclays Center even feels ice cold this season. It’s obvious that the Barclays Center, along with the NHL, have heard the cries loud and clear. Be it PVC piping, copper, iron, hell I’ll even take manually dumping the water onto the surface with buckets if it means the Islanders streak continues.
