Jean-Gabriel Pageau has seemingly picked up right where he left off in the 2019-20 bubble playoffs.
With a goal and two assists in the Isles’ overtime win over the Penguins in Game 1 Sunday, including the dish to Kyle Palmieri for the game-winner, Pageau continues to make the slew of picks the Islanders sent to the Senators at last season’s trade deadline to acquire the Canadian center look like a bargain.
He went 11-for-26 (42.3 percent) from the faceoff dot in the win, with 13 of those battles coming against Penguins star Sidney Crosby in the defensive or neutral zones. Pageau, who anchors the third line, was a force in all areas of the ice.
“Pager’s been key for us ever since the day we got him, regular season and playoffs,” Brock Nelson said Sunday. “He elevated himself last playoffs in the bubble. Hopefully, we’ll get more of that, he’s a key guy for us and can kind of do it all for us.”
Pageau essentially started his Isles tenure in last season’s playoffs, after competing in just seven regular-season games with the team before the coronavirus pandemic suspended play last March. Aside from taking the time to integrate himself into the organization, which he did by winning the team’s pingpong tournament in the Toronto bubble, the 28-year-old played a major role in the Islanders’ run to the conference finals.
He recorded eight goals, all at even strength, and three assists in 22 games, and finished last postseason at a plus-10 with 21 penalty minutes and 82 hits, as well as a 55.6 percentage on faceoffs. It was fitting that Pageau scored the first goal for the Islanders against the Panthers in the preliminary round. He had officially arrived.
Since then, head coach Barry Trotz has only seen Pageau grow more comfortable in the team’s systems and assume a notable leadership role.
“When you come in as a new player, they just want to fit in,” Trotz said Tuesday ahead of Game 2 in Pittsburgh. “I think the experience in the bubble and then the whole season, this is his team now. He’s an Islander. He has a big impact, in terms of leadership in our room, he has a big impact in the games. He has a sense of what I expect of him, he has a sense of how we’re going to use him.
“From my standpoint, the comfort level is really good with Pager and from his standpoint, I think he elevates his game when the game gets on the line, all the time. That’s just something that he’s done. I thought last game he did that and it started with a real good penalty kill. His game really elevated after that and it elevated the team.”
Pageau went a bit cold toward the end of the regular season, in which he finished with 14 goals and 14 assists in 54 games. He had just three goals over his last 21 games and no points in his last seven.
But his postseason numbers with the Islanders continue to grow, sitting at 14 points in 23 games heading into Game 2.
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