Frans Nielsen

The New York Islanders stole a 3-1 road victory over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center Monday night. It wasn’t the prettiest win, but the Islanders showed that despite occasional defensive lapses and a lackluster overall effort in the second period, they were able to get a result against their division rivals.

It would almost be fair to categorize the replay of this game as NSFW.

Playing in front of a sold-out crowd at The Rock, the Islanders continued their stretch of solid play on the road this season, even if they aren’t concerned with style points. New York improved to 11-5-1 overall away from the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, proving once again that they’re capable of winning games in hostile environments.

This is the year that the New York Islanders should look to be buyers at the trade deadline.

It is only just eight days away, and the Islanders presently sit with 31 points, just two shy from tying the New York Rangers for the eighth and final playoff spot with only 16 games remaining in the regular season.

Typically at this juncture, the Isles are on the verge of collapsing into the final three spots of the Eastern Conference and increasing their chances of winning the draft lottery. Although that is still a frightening scenario that can still play out for Garth Snow's squad, it is time for the Isles GM to make a statement that the rebuild is over.

Ullstrom is most effective when he's skating hard and working the forecheck to create turnovers. When he is on, he's also a pest and easily gets under the skin of opponents, all the while playing a clean game.

When Ullstrom is doing these little things, that's when he is creating his best offense. Forcing turnovers and converting them to offense is the hallmark of the young Swede.

When Garth Snow took over as general manager of the New York Islanders, he eventually set out on a mission to turn a lowly franchise into a contending hockey team by building through the NHL draft and developing talent from within (Photo Credit: Official New York Islanders/Flickr).

He took over in 2006, but did not start his rebuilding campaign until 2007-2008. Players such as Jeff Tambellini, Sean Bergenheim and Frans Nielsen began to slowly earn full-time roster spots with the organization.

The following year saw some other fresh faces like Jack Hillen, Josh Bailey, Kyle Okposo and Blake Comeau in orange and blue gear for the majority of the season. Since then, John Tavares has taken over this team while management weeded out a few bad apples and traded away some young talent that was not prospering on the island.