If there’s one thing you could say about the Islanders season so far, it’s this: they are certainly used to having games postponed and getting accustomed to stops and starts in their schedule.
Coming off an extended holiday break, the Islanders now find themselves in the midst of another hiatus, with their four-game west coast road trip postponed because of COVID-19 related issues.
Following their 3-2 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday at UBS Arena, the Islanders returned to practice on Monday at the Northwell Health Ice Center…but won’t play again until next Thursday, January 13, when they host the New Jersey Devils.
Instead of lamenting the latest long break in their schedule, the Islanders are focused on using this time wisely to clean up some things in their game.
“The games are going to come and the practice time is going to be limited,” said Associate Head Coach Lane Lambert after practice on Monday. “We’re excited about having the opportunity to work on stuff that we haven’t been able to work on because of the games and because we haven’t had a full group with injuries or COVID or whatever.”
Lambert continues to run the Islanders in the absence of Head Coach Barry Trotz, who remains away from the team because of “personal reasons” that are not related to COVID-19.
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This current break in the schedule comes as the Islanders are not only starting to accumulate points and move up the Eastern Conference standings, but also welcoming back players who have been out as a result of COVID-19 or injuries. There’s still no timetable yet for injured defenseman Ryan Pulock, but the Isles did welcome back forwards Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri on Monday.
With points in eight of their last ten games, the Islanders will look to keep their momentum going without playing any games.
“You need to practice hard,” said Cal Clutterbuck. “You need to pay attention to the detail that is required to string points and games together like we have. I think traditionally this group has been good at focusing at practice, and honestly, with the amount of stops and starts and guys that have been in and out of the lineup, this is the first time that we’ve had a bunch of time here to really hammer in those habits.”
When the Islanders do resume their schedule, they will have six games in 10 days, with five straight home games – against the Devils, Capitals (January 15), Flyers (Jan. 17), Blue Jackets (Jan. 18), and Coyotes (Jan. 21) – before heading to Toronto on Jan. 22. That’s six in 10 days including two back-to-backs, and with the NHL soon to reschedule all of the postponed games, there will be more grueling stretches like this ahead.
And they’ll be without something that they have a lot of now: time to practice.
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“We’re in a pretty good situation from that standpoint now,” said Lambert. “There’s things that we can work on now and use this time to our advantage because there won’t be a lot of practice time after we start again.”
A big part of the Islanders’ recent success has been due to the performance of younger players like defenseman Noah Dobson, who scored the overtime winner against the Oilers. But as the Isles continue to have players return from injury and illness, it’s a chance for much of the core group of players that have had so much success over the last three seasons to sort of hit control-alt-delete on what has been, to this point, a disappointing campaign for a number of reasons.
“It helps that we have maybe a little older team,” said Clutterbuck. “I think we know that when you have the opportunity to get a couple of practices in coming off of a break like that, if you can really focus on what you are doing and put some effort into it, I think it just allows you to be prepared when the puck does drop, so I think just the experience and the age of the group and having been around knowing the situation helps.”
The Islanders share in the frustration of their fans who have grown tired of long breaks in the schedule. They want to play, and they especially want to play games at UBS Arena, where they have won four of their last five contests. After a rough start, the Isles have climbed to within eight points of the Boston Bruins for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, but they’ll likely fall back a bit during this hiatus while accumulating more games in hand.
Extended breaks have been common for the Isles this season, but this one just might serve them well, as games get banked for later in the season while players continue to get healthier and rejoin the team.
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