Utah Hockey Club’s NHL debut went off without a hitch.
Playing in front of a packed house, Utah stormed out to an early 3-0 lead and cruised to a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Utah was a sizable favorite to beat Chicago, but it was still an impressive display from a team that many pundits have circled as a potential sleeper in the Central Division.
Their Opening Night performance won’t have anybody jumping off the bandwagon.
While there’s plenty of hype surrounding Utah HC in its first season, the opposite is true of the Islanders.
Despite a myriad of changes to the roster over the last 18 months, the general perception is that these are the same ol’ boring Isles who will have to fight tooth and nail to get into the playoffs again.
Perhaps the Isles will need to scratch and claw their way into the playoff mix, but it does seem that the masses are overlooking some significant changes on Long Island.
One of those changes was the hiring of Patrick Roy in January.
When Roy took over for Lane Lambert, the Islanders were spiraling and boasted some of the worst defensive metrics in the entire NHL.
In 37 games under the Hall of Famer, the Isles drastically improved their play in their own zone and that led to a jump in the standings.
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The Islanders played at a 100-point pace with Roy as their head coach.
The Isles’ resurgence under Roy was not a fluke and it’s no surprise that it came thanks to the team getting back to its identity as a defense-first hockey club.
I’d look for more of the same out of the gates, which makes the Isles an Under team in the earl ygoing.
THE PLAY: Islanders-Utah HC Under 5.5 (+106, FanDuel).
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