It is certainly a great year to be a New York Islanders fan: yesterday’s 7-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers was mainly a one-sided affair that will result in the Islanders leading the Metropolitan Division going into the All-Star break. New York also currently has the lead in the conference, but that will likely change as both Tampa Bay and Detroit could surpass them in points tonight.

This season the Islanders have been a marvel to watch, as they are technically — by a few hours — the fastest team to 30 wins and have consistently played well from month to month: 6-3 in January thus far and 8-4-1 in December, which does not even top their 11-3 record in November. And the Islanders have been able to do this because of their improved defense — both Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk added some needed depth at a struggling defensemen position — as well as solid goaltending from Jaroslav Halak, who is 25-9 with 2.41 GAA — his numbers are not mind shattering, but minus Friday’s game against the Canadiens, he has played a lot better post-September.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOih_O9kQM8

And lets not forget, the tremendous goal scoring by the Islanders: a team that is second in goals per game (3.2) and 14^th in power play percentage (19.2). A lot of the Islanders success is predicated on the fact that John Tavares is not the lone goal scorer anymore: he still leads the team with 21 goals, but has Brock Nelson (15), Kyle Okposo (14), Anders Lee (13) and Nikolay Kulemin (11) to share the workload. This has freed up Tavares’ game a bit, as he is able to trust the players around him.

Yes, their goals against is only 21^st and their power penalty kill is 28^th, yet as long as they keep scoring this poor stat will be placed on the back burner: you cannot have multiple games like the 6-4 loss to the Canadiens, however, it is amazing that after six goals the Islanders were still in it at all. Obviously, the GAA needs to improve, but their play shows how the 2014-2015 team has a different mindset from last year’s disappointing season: for all the times I criticize Jack Capuano, he seems to have finally gotten over that coaching hump — many players claim their pre-season training camp was the hardest of their professional lives.

And finally, lets briefly talk about what Don Cherry calls the most dominant fourth line in hockey: particularly Matt Martin, Cal Clutterbuck and Casey Cizikas, who started the season slow, but have been dominant down the stretch. In a league that has pretty much eliminated the tough guy role, the Islanders’ fourth line shines as the crew who is willing to do the dirty work.

After some inconsistent calls from the referees during yesterday’s win against the Flyers, Martin and Clutterback made it their personal crusade to dole out punishment in what became a very chippy game. And like it or not, this type of hitting makes a difference from game-to-game. Perhaps statistically they do not have the greatest numbers and Cherry comes from a hockey mindset of yesteryear, however, the fourth line has made a noticeable difference whenever they are on the ice.

Lets just hope the whole organization can keep this pace up following the All-Star break. So for now, I will “drink the Islanders kool-aid” because with 31 wins they seriously look like the real deal.

The New York Islanders have been the talk of the town: with their 4-3 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals, the Isles are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for first place — it is the first time the team on the island has had a share of first place this late in the season since 1990, nearly 25 years.

At the same time, December has been one of the weaker months for the Islanders: they will finish the month on Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets, but at the moment they are 7-4-1. Now, this record does not look poor on the surface — especially with the most recent four game slide by the Pittsburgh Penguins who are 6-4-3 — but it hides a sinister secret that has hindered the Islanders in the past: goaltending and defense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7scLoU7dhw

The team that has seemingly been on fire has blown three goal leads in four separate games: the most recent during the aforementioned Monday’s night win against the Washington Capitals. They also did it during the December 6 loss to the St. Louis Blues, the following loss to Minnesota Wild and Saturday’s shootout loss to Buffalo.

Now, this could partially be blamed on the back up goaltending: lets face it, besides Jaroslav Halak the Islanders’ goaltending has been severely lacking. Compared to back up Chad Johnson, Halak’s numbers look MVP caliber: Chad Johnson gives up 3.54 GAA and has an abysmal save percentage of .867 — yet somehow New York is 5-5 when he is in net. And this Saturday, the Islanders decided to bring back Kevin Poulin from the minors: despite going up early, Poulin’s aggressive play waned in the third, letting in a savable short hand goal that in retrospect meant the game.

However, the back ups can only account for two of the four games, with the other blown leads coming from star goaltender Halak: who is sporting 2.27 GAA and a save percentage of .917, which is 19th in the league. Perhaps, one can say both the Blues and the Capitals have a top ten offense; but it is very rare for teams to go up three goals and lose the game, let alone do it four times in one month. So while goaltending has not been the greatest — despite Halak’s numbers he has picked up pace from November on — the other half of the blame has to be put on the defense.

Even with Poulin in the net, the defense seemed to be nonexistent against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday: allowing them to skate freely through the crease or down the middle of their zone — basically they were allowing the team ranked dead last in goals per game to get back into the contest. Yes, the Islanders have been playing increasingly better than last season: winning one goal games shows that Garth Snow somewhat addressed their defensive issues with the acquisition of Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy. At the same time, blowing four leads does cause one to worry; are they tired therefore these games are flukes or are they showing a lack of discipline — the latter has plagued Coach Capuano’s career.

So should Islander fans be in full panic mode: no, it is an 82 game season and the Isles still happen to be in first going into January. But it is important to be aware of this problem because blowing leads is something that could severely affect them down the road.