{"id":419149,"date":"2026-01-21T04:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/419149\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T04:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:36:21","slug":"the-change-at-the-center-of-anthony-duclairs-hot-islanders-stretch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/419149\/","title":{"rendered":"The change at the center of Anthony Duclair’s hot Islanders stretch"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE \u2014 Since junior hockey, Anthony Duclair had never changed anything about his stick. That flex, that curvature \u2014 it worked for him, so why touch it?<\/p>\n

Except, when the calendar turned to the new year, it was no longer working the same way. Duclair had scored only once in his past 26 games, just four times in the season\u2019s first 39 games and was made a healthy scratch in the Islanders\u2019 first two games of 2026. <\/p>\n

This season wasn\u2019t as overtly miserable as last year\u2019s for Duclair \u2014 he was healthy, and his relationship with Patrick Roy appeared fine \u2014 but he was languishing in the bottom six, showing little sign of recovering his scoring touch.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, I was tired. I was like, \u2018I need to change something,\u2019 \u201d Duclair said after the Islanders beat the Canucks 4-3<\/a> on Monday night. \u201cI just grabbed [Casey Cizikas\u2019] stick after practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

And?<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Islanders forward Anthony Duclair (11) celebrates after scoring a goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the first period Rogers Arena. Bob Frid-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cMy shot was just unbelievable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Screw it. I\u2019m gonna use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next game, Duclair scored on his first shot of the night. Then he scored two more times, and assisted two more goals for a five-point performance against the Devils. It was the first five-point hat trick<\/a> for an Islander in five years, and the best scoring output in a game of Duclair\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

So, yeah. He told equipment manager Jason Berger to order him a shipment of sticks to Cizikas\u2019 specifications.<\/p>\n

\u201cTotally different model, curve, everything,\u201d Duclair said. \u201cI put my stick in the garbage. I\u2019m using Cizikas\u2019 now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Call it a coincidence, call it a placebo, call it whatever you want. But it is working<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In seven games with the new twig, Duclair has seven goals, including two Monday night in Vancouver that served to wake up the Islanders amid a woeful start to the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like he\u2019s shooting with a lot of confidence,\u201d coach Patrick Roy said. \u201cFor some reason, he\u2019s positioning [himself] well. He scored two on this trip in the power play in the pocket. I thought that was a really nice shot from the side. Great feed by our guys, he took advantage of it. He deserves credit for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven goals, by the way, is as many as he had all of last season.<\/p>\n

The Islanders have been challenged for scoring throughout this seven-game trip which ends Wednesday night against the Kraken. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re missing Bo Horvat, their leading scorer, and Kyle Palmieri, who potted 24 goals a year ago, and the cracks have started to show.<\/p>\n

\"KasperiKasperi Kapanen of the Edmonton Oilers skates against Anthony Duclair of the New York Islanders during the second period of the game at Rogers Place on January 15, 2026, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Even with Horvat set to return from a lower-body injury before the Olympic break (Palmieri is done for the season with an ACL tear), scoring is a need Mathieu Darche may need to address before the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

If Duclair can keep up this output and be the top-line player the Islanders thought they were getting a year ago, though, it might change that equation, or at least lessen the urgency a smidge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His chemistry with Mat Barzal, long dormant since the Islanders spent the 2024 preseason with the two of them together on the top line, has reignited. He\u2019s clicked with Cal Ritchie too, with the pair combining for two power-play goals on this trip, both in similar fashion (and, yes, if Duclair can help spark the power play, that too would be a game-changer for the Islanders).<\/p>\n

For now, it\u2019s still too small a sample size to avoid some caution, though Duclair has certainly earned a lasting stay in the top six even when Horvat comes back and pushes someone out.<\/p>\n

If it really was as easy as changing up his stick, though, then maybe the Islanders have just solved one of their problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 Since junior hockey, Anthony Duclair had never changed anything about his stick. That flex, that curvature…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5976,5,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4,349,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-419149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-anthony-duclair","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-islanders","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-islanders","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkislanders","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-ny-sports-minute","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115931237334718486","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}