Tavares flourishing for reborn Islanders
While new head coach Doug Weight has deservedly been given plenty of credit for turning around the New York Islanders' season, his best player is worthy of some recognition, too.
Since Weight took over on Jan. 17, the Islanders are 8-2-2, surging into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race thanks in large part to the production of captain John Tavares.
Over those 12 games, Tavares leads the club with 14 points. He's put together six multi-point efforts across that span - the latest coming in Sunday's win over the Avalanche.
Finally, Tavares looks like Tavares. Based on his own extremely high standards, the 26-year-old was in the midst of a down season, amassing only 32 points in 42 games under former coach Jack Capuano.
His linemates, not surprisingly, have enjoyed a production spike as well, as wingers Anders Lee and Josh Bailey have recorded 13 and nine points, respectively, over the last dozen games.
A big reason for the uptick in Tavares' scoring - and the Islanders' success - is a red-hot power play. New York's man advantage is firing at a 25 percent clip in 40 opportunities under Weight, compared to 13.6 percent for Capuano. Spearheading the turnaround, of course, is Tavares, who's notched six of his eight power-play points on the season during this torrid stretch.
The Islanders are on some kind of roll at the moment, and if they manage to reach the playoffs, don't look past No. 91 as the reason why.