The Bridgeport Islanders have the worst offense in the American Hockey League. They average only 2.21 goals per game and have been held to one goal or fewer in five of their last 11 games. It’s not the primary reason the Islanders sit in last place in the Atlantic Division and with a 24-36-6-2 record are already eliminated from the playoffs, but it’s a big one.
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They scored three goals in the 6-3 loss to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins on April 6. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, they scored four unanswered goals in the next game on April 7 against the Rochester Americans to force a shootout (they lost 5-4 in the end). Two games is a small sample size considering the Islanders have played 68 of 76 games already, but it’s a promising sign for the short and long-term outlooks.
The offensive woes have hurt this team all season and have kept them in last place in the standings. There are plenty of issues throughout the lineup yet some help is on the way and the future looks positive, especially if change happens from both a roster standpoint and how the team plays on the ice.
Islanders Need Scoring Depth
Ruslan Iskhakov, Matthew Maggio, and William Dufour have scored 48 of the Islanders’ 152 goals this season. It doesn’t take a mathematician to realize that three skaters have accounted for a significant amount of the offense (roughly one-third of it from a goal-scoring standpoint). The 6-3 loss to the Penguins was a good case in point to how top-heavy the offense is as Dufour and Maggio scored and each added an assist while the rest of the offense didn’t show up.
Outside of that trio, the forward unit is filled with forecheckers who struggle to find the back of the net. Only five skaters have 10 goals or more, while eight skaters have 10 assists or more. Opponents can eliminate the bottom six when there isn’t a scoring presence and they’ve done just that. Having a hard-hitting presence is valuable in a forward unit and toughness often gives a team an edge, as the playoffs tend to prove time and time again. The problem is when it consumes the unit, it leaves the offense a mess.
The good news is that help is on the way, specifically with Alex Jefferies, Matt Kopperud, and Jack Randl have all been signed in recent weeks and will be a part of the roster for the final few games of this season and for next season. Jefferies…
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