In this video I break down the Isles power play against the San Jose Sharks and all I got to say is wow. Barzal and Lee will leave you guys in good hands on the PP. They both do the small things incredibly well. Please let me know any feedback you have, Thanks!
Agree completely. Just to add... It’s not just his one-timers, but also his one-touch passing. I believe it was Lee’s first goal this year that was a good example of a Bailey “one-touch” pass. His decisiveness on the PP is a big reason why they can operate effectively from both half-boards.
I was going to say this too! Living in Ireland I always have to explain to people here that "Long Island" is simply an island without political borders therefore it's ON Long Island, but IN Brooklyn. I think many of us noticed the Isles lacked quick passing to open up space on the PP, but call me salty I think this is a small side effect of Tavares being gone. Not watching him play with the puck at the half boards for 45 seconds is in fact a nice breath of fresh air. Nice breakdown
If the Islanders can move the puck like they did on that power play, they'll be just fine. SJ was very aggressive on their kill and that seems to be the way teams like to play us. But if we are able to keep the puck moving like they did there, they'll be in great shape to take advantage of the gaps created. Our PP1 can move the puck around to combat this aggression, our PP2 can't. At least not at this point.
It's a little obvious that the plan is to suck everyone to Barzal and skip pass to Bailey and then an immediate shot for a potential Lee rebound or slap-pass to Lee. Shown here and on the OT winner in Raleigh. Once teams start shading towards stopping that cross-ice pass, it should open up the opportunity for Barzal to shoot and Eberle near side pipe. Cool stuff, great breakdown!
And, when they inevitably put Pulock on the point, which I think they will eventually, that is another threat that you have to shade towards. You can't let that shot sneak down towards the top of the circles instead of the blue line. That will re-open the cross ice pass. Our PP can be very dangerous.
I've claimed for a while that Bailey's point totals over the years were limited by Tavares playing in Bailey's natural PP role. This left Bailey to only get the 30 odd seconds of PP left when Tavares left the ice, or eventually to take Nielsen's spot on the point on the first unit, which is of course a non-ideal spot for him. He finally has the ideal PP role for his skillset, and it's good to see him running with it so far (though of course, it's way too early to tell).
Some of Barzal's high risk passes scare me meaning those lobs back to the point. Hope he tones down on that some and starts to use the boards more.