By Brian Bohl
UNIONDALE, NY-The Islanders would be a juggernaut offense if items like puck discipline, blocked shots and consistent goaltending were rewarded with goals. But in a post-lockout era that supposedly favors scoring, the Isles entered Tuesday with an NHL-low 51 goals.
Thanks to netminder Rick DiPietro and stingy defense, the lack of production hasn't buried them in the Eastern Conference standings. In fact, they were just three points behind the first-place Rangers heading into a back-to-back set against the top-ranked Ottawa Senators followed by a rivalry game against the Blueshirts at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
A 12-8-1 record puts the Islanders in a good position, even if there are troubling signs. Coach Ted Nolan has done his best to spark a stagnating offense that has scored 15 goals in nine games. He reshuffled the lines over the weekend, with former fourth-line forward Chris Simon and captain Bill Guerin moving up to team with Mike Comrie on the primary scoring unit.
Nolan also attempted a shakeup for the beleaguered power play unit, activating Marc-Andre Bergeron to pair with Bryan Berard along the blue line during man advantages. The duo was instrumental in helping Miroslav Satan score the game-tying goal against the Dallas Stars earlier in the week, allowing the Isles to salvage a point in the standings.
Regardless of that output, Bergeron could be back on the shelf and end the seven-defenseman experiment when winger Shawn Bates returns from a nearly 11-month abdominal injury. But the fate of the team still will depend on DiPietro, who guided his team to a 4-4-1 record despite his team averaging fewer than two goals a game the past three weeks.
"We've been playing smart games. The results sometimes are low scoring games," DiPietro said. "As long as we're the team with the one-goal lead in the end, that's all that matters."
Guerin, a former All-Star, has just five goals and two outside of his early-season hat trick against Washington. No Islander is in double digits in goal scoring yet, though Nolan seemed to shrug off suggestions that the offense might need some outside fortifications.
"My philosophy has always been if we score one more than them, we have a good chance of winning," Nolan said.
Continued inefficiency might nullify those sarcastic quips. With the trade deadline months away, the Islanders need to find in-house answers. Jeff Tambellini is the leading scoring for the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, making him a good candidate to be called up considering his productive appearances with the big club last season.
On the trade front, general manager Garth Snow probably doesn't have the trade chips to land a high-impact player like last year's surprise deadline deal for Ryan Smyth. Thinking outside the box, though, there might be enough talent in Bridgeport to make a package for J.P. Dumont.
A trade for Dumont, or a player of his caliber, wouldn't be a panacea for all the problems. But a move could still provide a shakeup and add depth to the NHL roster. Acquiring Dumont would bring the 29-year-old back to franchise that drafted him in the first round in 1996 and allow Nolan to plug in the five-time 20-goal scorer next to Guerin or along the left wing with Mike Sillinger and Trent Hunter.
Dumont is on a last-place Nashville team and isn't the type of cornerstone building block. He is the last year of a two-year contract, meaning the Predators might want to get something of value for him in return for younger prospects. Trades aren't usually completed until after the midway point of the season, so in the meantime, players like Guerin, Comrie and Sillinger will need to shake off slow starts for the Isles to stay in contention in the Atlantic Division.