Worst to First?

The Isles were 5-18-5  when they took the ice on December 16 to face Anaheim. Their 15 points were five fewer than New Jersey, and 11 fewer than any other team in the East.

Since then, the Isles are 21-14-5.  Their 47 points lead the Atlantic Division (NJ 44, Phil 43, Pitt 42, NYR 35) over that span.  It's the first time that they have managed at least 47 points in a 40 game span since 2007.

In fact, there is only one team in the Eastern Conference with more points from December 16-March 10: the Boston Bruins.  Boston is 22-11-5 (49 points).  The Bruins will be at the Coliseum on Friday -- an Islander regulation win would tie them with Boston for the most points in the Eastern Conference over a nearly three month period.

In fairness, the Islanders have played the most games in the Conference over these 12 weeks.  Regardless, it is a significant turnaround for a team that has used six goaltenders to win those 21 games.

	GP	W	L	OT	Pts
Boston	38	22	11	5	49
NY Islanders	40	21	14	5	47
Washington	35	20	9	6	46
Tampa Bay	36	21	11	4	46
New Jersey	36	21	13	2	44
Buffalo	36	20	12	4	44
Philadelphia	34	21	12	1	43
Montreal	37	19	13	5	43
Pittsburgh	35	18	11	6	42
Carolina	38	18	14	6	42
Toronto	38	17	15	6	40
Florida	39	14	16	9	37
NY Rangers	36	16	17	3	35
Atlanta	35	11	17	7	29
Ottawa	35	11	18	6	28

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick