Mat Barzal, perhaps more than any player in the NHL, functions as a human inkblot test.
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’t getting more out of his obvious talent.
The last couple of weeks, over which Barzal has just three points in six games since scoring an overtime winner in Las Vegas, are as prototypical of that as any.
Barzal has been noticeable in every game, constantly possessing the puck in dangerous areas. He’s even shot it more often, putting six pucks on net against Seattle on Sunday. The numbers haven’t followed, although, as Barzal himself pointed out after Tuesday’s practice, the wins very much have, with the Islanders coming into Wednesday’s Thanksgiving Eve match against the Bruins having won seven of their past nine.
“Individually, I’m coming off a major injury and I feel great,” Barzal said. “I 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.
“But at the end of the day, I’m locked in for six years. I feel like points and that kinda stuff is something you worry about when you’re a rookie, on your rookie contract, and a free agent and stuff. I care about wins. And we’re winning.”
Two things that are indisputable, and in Barzal’s favor.
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.
“He’s getting to the interior a little bit. He’s getting some shots,” captain Anders Lee said. “He’s attacking the net. I always find when he’s doing that, using his linemates on give-and-gos, allowing them to do some work, he’s playing some great hockey as a result of that.”
His move back to center, 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’s production for most of his career, nowhere near problematic, but perhaps leaving something on the table.
“I feel like my turnovers are probably at a career low,” Barzal said. “I feel like chances created are as high as they’ve ever been as of late. I don’t 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’s been a little bit of the story, maybe, over the last few years for me. As long as we’re winning, it’s the only thing that matters.”
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’ best finisher.
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 — which might help bridge the gaps between the point total, the eye test and the advanced stats.
“My mindset on the ice when I’m a centerman has to shift a little bit with controlling the whole ice instead of being a winger and floating around a little bit,” Barzal said. “But I feel like my defensive play, my takeaways, my rounded game has, I think, been the best of my career.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
