The Islanders’ power-play makes another appearance in a goal breakdown. This time, the followers chose an Oliver Wahlstrom power-play blast in Boston from the regular season. Thank you for voting all season long and look for another poll after round one of the postseason.

The 20-year-old Wahlstrom has been in and out of the lineup all season. He’s had hot streaks and cold snaps. One thing is undeniable, however: he has a great shot.

In this goal, Wahlstrom shows off his one-time shot. The Islanders got some rare movement on the power-play and it worked. On the 4-on-3, Mathew Barzal found the cross-ice seam and Wahlstrom found the back of the net. Let’s break it down.

Wahlstrom began the play on the right-wing boards. He’s right-handed though, how did he score a one-timer from there? He moved all the way up top and then over to the left-wing boards. Off-puck movement is crucial to a successful power-play and the Islanders don’t do it often enough. Wahlstrom didn’t take a straight line or arc to the other side of the ice. Instead, he drifted around Nick Leddy at the point and set a bit of a pick on Patrice Bergeron, the top guy in the Bruins’ triangle defense.

Barzal makes his arc from the left wing to the right wing with a little more space thanks to the play by Wahlstrom. As he goes, Barzal draws the attention of all three penalty killers. This allowed Wahlstrom to split back out wide with plenty of room. As Barzal gains speed and drove in towards the goal, Wahlstrom backed up a little bit to the top of the circle. This gave an open passing lane where Barzal didn’t have to worry about the defensemen’s sticks.

Barzal knew exactly where Wahlstrom was. This allowed him to look off the defenders, including Bergeron. When Barzal began his skate towards the net, Bergeron’s stick was blocking a pass to Wahlstrom. Barzal looked straight at the faceoff dot, about 15 feet in front of where Wahlstrom was actually standing. Bergeron read his eyes and changed his stick position to stop a pass down low and opened up the pass up high which Barzal took.

In front of the goal, Brock Nelson took away the eyes of Tuukka Rask and forced a late reaction. Most importantly, Wahlstrom did something the typical Islanders power-play also lacks: he shot the puck. A typical five-on-four looks different from a four-on-three power play but shooting the puck is still crucial.

Wahlstrom’s slap shot isn’t even the most dangerous in his arsenal. His snap and wrist shots allow him to score from almost anywhere. If he can use these tools and become a dangerous scoring threat, Barry Trotz will have no choice but to give him more ice time as the playoffs continue.

John Smark