Islanders’ prospect Ho-Sang finding rhythm in AHL
BRIDGEPORT, CONN. >> Far too often, whether it was deserved or otherwise, New York Islanders prospect Josh HoSang had been making headlines for everything but what he was able to do on the ice.
No longer.
The 22-year-old is scoring at nearly a point-per-game pace with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League — he’s second in the league with 14 assists to go along with one goal in his first 16 games of the season — which would easily put the 2014 first-round draft pick on pace for the best year of his pro career.
“I’m just on the ice more. I can make stuff happen. I like to create. You can tell I’m not really a goal scorer, my points right now are like one (goal) and 13 (assists),” he told The Trentonian through a chuckle after a recent game.
“That’s not the most flattering from a scoring standpoint. But, I just like to play hockey like the great midfielders in soccer; I’m trying to create, open up plays, get other guys involved, give them the puck in situations I would want the puck in. That’s been working out so far, and I hope it continues.”
In addition to an increase in ice time — one that came shortly after a New York Post story in which he expressed frustration in not being in a top-six role — Ho-Sang credited better communication with linemates Connor Jones and Michael Dal Colle (the latter since has been recalled to the Islanders) to an uptick in his level of play, something that was very obvious in Bridgeport’s day game win over Binghamton last week at Webster Bank Arena.
“I just want to win,” he said. “I’ve had a tough start to the beginning of the year, and the team looks like it’s turning the corner the past couple of games. I’m just focusing on keeping that going. It’s easy with our team, I think we all motivate each other. That’s a big thing. We’ve scored 15 goals in two games, so I think our team is starting to find our touch. We knew we had a lot of offense, it just wasn’t coming in the first couple of games. Then we made some changes, and since then things have been pretty good.”