Noah Dobson, Sebastian Aho maturing in the Isles' defensive zone

Islanders defensemen Noah Dobson, left, and Sebastian Aho. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke; Peter Frutkoff

By Laura Albaneselaura.albanese@newsday.com @AlbaneseLauraUpdated October 19, 2023

By all measures, the Islanders' defense should have been weaker on Tuesday in their game against the Coyotes after Scott Mayfield was ruled out with a lower-body injury.

But though Mayfield was always going to be missed, a funny thing happened on their way to the 1-0 win: The defense was suffocating, well-rounded and confident — a sign, they hope, that one of this team’s strengths has gotten even stronger as young players like Noah Dobson and Sebastian Aho come into their own.

And that’s good news, considering Lane Lambert gave little indication of whether Mayfield will be ready for their next opponent Friday — a Devils team that’s gotten off to a slow start but packs a lot more firepower than Arizona. Mayfield hasn’t skated since Saturday and is considered day-to-day with an apparent ankle injury.

“Scott is big,” Aho said after practice Thursday at it Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. “But at the same time, I feel like the other six of us, we’ve all played together at some point during the last couple of years, so I feel like it doesn’t really matter who you’re playing with out there.”

A lot of that Tuesday had to do with Aho, who took the pressure off Mayfield’s replacement, Samuel Bolduc, playing in just his 18th NHL game. Skating together on the Islanders' third pair, Aho moved to the right, his off-side, and had five shots on goal with a block and a hit in 16:23 minutes. Dobson , assisted on Mathew Barzal's power-play goal and tallied four blocks in 24:38.

All of it, they said, is part of a larger effort to become well-rounded defensemen — particularly defensemen stronger in their own zone. Their efforts haven’t been lost on Lambert.

“What I’ve seen — it’s not necessarily more urgency, but more understanding of every little moment counts,” Lambert said of Dobson and Aho. “We’re talking body position, stick position, things that like. Things that [assistant coach] Doug Houda worked with them on and done a really good job of.”

The result Tuesday was a measly 14 shots on goal for the Coyotes, something Dobson said the defense certainly takes pride in.

“If you look at where I was when I started to where I am now, I think there’s definitely been steps to improve in the defensive zone," Dobson said. “I think you’re always growing and developing your game in all areas and it’s definitely something I’ve been keen on — being able to put up decent numbers offensively and still been trying to grow defensively, but at the same time, really trying to dial in defensively to be trusted in all situations and be a guy that’s reliable on both ends of the rink.”

Aho called it “a long journey,” but said he’s gaining more confidence as he’s been given more responsibility.

He doesn’t want to just be someone “you can trust to make a good play in the offensive zone, but you can’t really trust him in your own end,” he said. “So, I just try to be a solid two-way defenseman, go with the puck, and the coaches and coaching staff helped me a lot to show me what I need to work on and then it’s just up to be to stay on top of it.”

The Islanders are 2-0 behind two low-scoring games decided by a single goal, and with the team being largely similar to the one that took the ice last year, GM Lou Lamoriello is counting on the players he already has to take another step forward.

It's a small sample size, but so far, so good.

“He’s always been a really good player but I think you’ve just seen the confidence grow last year into this year,” Lambert said of Aho. “He’s got a really good skill set. He sees the ice really well. He makes good plays. He’s a big piece of our 'D' core back there. It’s nice to see him get more and more confident each game.”