{"id":52282,"date":"2025-11-25T23:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T23:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/52282\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T23:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T23:40:09","slug":"mat-barzal-only-worried-about-one-islanders-statistic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/52282\/","title":{"rendered":"Mat Barzal only worried about one Islanders statistic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mat Barzal, perhaps more than any player in the NHL, functions as a human inkblot test.<\/p>\n

You can watch Barzal for games at a time and walk away impressed with how he influences nearly every shift, or wonder why he isn\u2019t getting more out of his obvious talent. <\/p>\n

The last couple of weeks, over which Barzal has just three points in six games since scoring an overtime winner in Las Vegas<\/a>, are as prototypical of that as any.<\/p>\n

Barzal has been noticeable in every game, constantly possessing the puck in dangerous areas. He\u2019s even shot it more often, putting six pucks on net against Seattle on Sunday. The numbers haven\u2019t followed, although, as Barzal himself pointed out after Tuesday\u2019s practice, the wins very much have, with the Islanders coming into Wednesday\u2019s Thanksgiving Eve match against the Bruins having won seven of their past nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividually, I\u2019m coming off a major injury<\/a> and I feel great,\u201d Barzal said. \u201cI feel like numbers are what they are right now, but I feel like the quality of my game, personally, has been really solid. Maybe the best of my career as of late.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the end of the day, I\u2019m locked in for six years. I feel like points and that kinda stuff is something you worry about when you\u2019re a rookie, on your rookie contract, and a free agent and stuff. I care about wins. And we\u2019re winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Islanders\u2019 Mathew Barzal (13) drives past Seattle Kraken\u2019s Matty Beniers. AP<\/p>\n

Two things that are indisputable, and in Barzal\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

First, he has constantly been a threat in the offensive zone, ranking in the 84th percentile league-wide in offensive zone time, per NHL Edge tracking. Second, and probably related, the Islanders have given up next to nothing when Barzal is on the ice. Amongst Islanders forwards, Barzal has the second-fewest expected goals allowed per 60 minutes on the team, with only Jonathan Drouin ahead of him, per Evolving Hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s getting to the interior a little bit. He\u2019s getting some shots,\u201d captain Anders Lee said. \u201cHe\u2019s attacking the net. I always find when he\u2019s doing that, using his linemates on give-and-gos, allowing them to do some work, he\u2019s playing some great hockey as a result of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

His move back to center<\/a>, a preseason talking point, has gone smoothly in that sense, though Barzal would be the first to acknowledge that his faceoff percentage of 34.2 needs improving. His 17 points in 22 games are, like Barzal\u2019s production for most of his career, nowhere near problematic, but perhaps leaving something on the table.<\/p>\n

\"MathewMathew Barzal of the New York Islanders takes a shot on goal against the Seattle Kraken. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my turnovers are probably at a career low,\u201d Barzal said. \u201cI feel like chances created are as high as they\u2019ve ever been as of late. I don\u2019t know what I have right now for numbers but I feel like I could have at least 10-15 more [points], no problem. But that\u2019s been a little bit of the story, maybe, over the last few years for me. As long as we\u2019re winning, it\u2019s the only thing that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot of that can be explained by the move back to center. Not only does playing in the middle force Barzal to be more cognizant of defensive responsibilities and hanging onto the puck, but separating him from Bo Horvat also took him away from the Islanders\u2019 best finisher.<\/p>\n

Barzal has good chemistry with Drouin, his most common linemate this season, but individually, they are two of the most reluctant shooters on the team \u2014 which might help bridge the gaps between the point total, the eye test and the advanced stats.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mindset on the ice when I\u2019m a centerman has to shift a little bit with controlling the whole ice instead of being a winger and floating around a little bit,\u201d Barzal said. \u201cBut I feel like my defensive play, my takeaways, my rounded game has, I think, been the best of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mat Barzal, perhaps more than any player in the NHL, functions as a human inkblot test. You can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15315,9,11,6821,10,539,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-52282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-mathew-barzal","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}