Good Morning, Islanders Country.
The only science you can trust when it comes to Islanders’ line combinations is E=MC2.
The science used for choosing the rest of the liens hasn’t been as exact. As fans followed beat reporters on social media, they learned that professor Barry Trotz broke out the chemistry set at Monday’s practice, mixing and matching forwards in a peculiar way to spark the group.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” said Trotz. “And sometimes, you throw spaghetti on the wall… and it works.”
Coming up, Mathew Barzal can play with anyone (but that doesn’t mean he wants to) and the waiting game continues for Ryan Pulock. Plus, Josh Ho-Sang gets ready for the world stage, Bossy’s 50 in 50, an attendance boom, and Bryan Trottier on his friend and teammate, Clark Gillies.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: Barry Trotz was the mad scientist at practice on Monday, seeing if he could mix just the right potion together to get the Islanders’ offense clicking. Reporters attending practice noticed that Mathew Barzal and long-time line-mate Anders Lee were working separately as Barzal centered Kieffer Bellows and Josh Bailey while Lee played with Brock Nelson and Austin Czarnik. It was taking a maintenance day for Anthony Beauvillier which contributed to the shake-ups.
“I would say for the most part I’ve had “Leesy” and Barzy stapled together,” Trotz said. “I think there’s times when you keep doing the same thing, it’ll work for a few years, and then it will stop working.”
“So sometimes you just need a little refresher,” Trotz added. “You get them away from each other for a bit and put them back together at some point and they sort of rekindle the joy in their lines.”
Perhaps this move was just temporary, really temporary - it may not even carry over to the game. But the players - especially the team’s star center, are looking for some consistency in the lineup and are motivated to get these lines clicking sooner than later. “I would love some concrete chemistry with somebody, said Barzal. “Rotating guys in and out sometimes is hard to get that chemistry. In saying that, I pride myself on being a guy that can play with anyone.”
On Monday against Toronto, it was Czarniak that got the opportunity to play with Barzal. Two games earlier it was Bellows on his wing. Zach Parise has also gotten a turn with Barzal. This comes after a playoff run that featured Uncle Leo Komarov getting top-line minutes. All those players can fill a role on an NHL team, but none should be playing with Barzal. Nevertheless, the Isles’ playmaker isn’t making excuses.
"It’s nice to have a line that you've been with for a little bit, but again, this is the NHL," Barzal added. "You’ve got to adapt and play with whoever's up there."
🕰 THE PULOCK CLOCK: Ryan Pulock suffered a lower-body injury blocking a shot against the Tampa Bay Lightning (a 4-1 loss) on November 15th. Despite all of the Islanders’ postponed games and schedule changes, he’s still missed 22, soon to be at least 23 games. The original four-to-six-week timetable has long been out the window, but he could be close to returning sometime in February, at least that’s the hope.
“It will be huge to get Ryan back,” said All-Star defenseman Adam Pelech. “He’s obviously a great player and very important to our team so I think we’re all looking forward to that.” Pulock and injured forward Kyle Palmieri were both once again absent from practice at the Northwell Health Ice Center on Monday. There is still no timetable for either of their returns.
⏭ NEXT UP: History will be made tonight at UBS Arena. The NHL Iron Man Streak is a well-respected honor among players and when Flyers’ defenseman Keith Yandle takes the ice against the Islanders, he will break Doug Jarvis’ long-held record of 964 consecutive games from Oct. 8, 1975, to Oct. 10, 1987. For Yandle, he’s long-surpassed the 1,000 game mark (now at 1,073) and will set the record with his 965th consecutive game and continue to set a new NHL record every game after.
The Flyers are winless in 12 games including going 0-1-1 against the Isles.
📊 STANDINGS:
🇨🇦 JOSH HO-SANG VS THE WORLD: Say what you will about Mr. Josh Ho-Sang, but he’s headed to the 2022 Olympics with Team Canada (as long as a deleted tweet was correct). The International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IHFs) official @IIHFHockey account, accidentally blasted out the graphic of Team Canada’s entry for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, a day ahead of the official announcement and Ho-Sang was on it.
After not reaching an agreement with the Islanders last summer, perhaps a mutually agreed upon departure, Ho-Sang signed an AHL deal with the Toronto Marlies where he’s collected 20 points in 27 games so far this season. For many fans who thought the Islanders didn’t give him a fair shot, something he’s dealt with since his days in junior, it’s nice to see him get an opportunity on a big stage.
🙏🏻 A GIANT ON AND OFF THE ICE: It’s easy to point to a hockey Hall of Famer and discuss his stats and what he meant in the locker room, but what we’ve heard more often about Clark Gillies, most recently from Bryan Trottier, has been how good of a person he was, how he lit up a room, how he made everyone feel important, and how much he loved the mic.
From the stories he told to how he would take time for every single fan to sign a piece of Isles gear, the outpouring of love for one of the Islanders’ all-time greats has been both heartwarming and tearjerking. In this interview on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, Trottier spoke about his joke-telling, soft, genuine, life of the party, friend.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, the Isles have played seventeen home games and sold out all of them - the largest indoor crowds to ever see the Isles at home.
You no longer have to scroll too far down to find where the Islanders rank in attendance. At the mid-point of the season, the Islanders have the 5th highest average attendance in hockey and will welcome their 300,000th fan to UBS Arena on Tuesday night when they host the Flyers.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On January 24, 1981, Mike Bossy became the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in the first 50 games of the season. After being held scoreless by the Quebec Nordiques, Bossy got his 49th and 50th goals in the final 4 minutes 10 seconds to match the mark of Montreal’s Maurice “Rocket” Richard during the 1944-45 season. The Isles 7-4 win at the Nassau Coliseum was a footnote to Bossy’s historic accomplishment.
''I was handling the puck as if it had tape around it,'' Bossy said, describing how the pressure had affected his play. ''But then, I got the 49th, and that made me even more nervous, for I was thinking how I might get a chance for 50 when Quebec removed its goalie. But then somehow the puck got loose in their end and I got free and Trots got the puck to me and I was able to get off a good shot for the 50th. I was all by myself, but when the puck hit my stick, it bounced straight up in the air. That made me glad I do have a quick-release, for I just whacked it in when it came down.''
Also on this date in 1986, Bossy scored his 1,000th career point, becoming the 20th player in NHL history to reach the milestone.
🎥 IslesFix Postgame show with The Nassaumen: Be sure to tune into the IslesFix Postgame show featuring The Nassaumen following the Isles matchup against the Flyers tonight. James and Jon will be LIVE directly following the game to break down the action.
🎧 Islanders Anxiety - Ep. 187 - A Phenomena of Emotions with Dan Saraceni and Michael Leeboff “Mike and Dan recap the Islanders’ three wins and one loss this week and examine the monumental impact of Clark Gillies, who has passed away at 67.”
🔗 Do the Islanders need another playmaker, by James Nichols, The Fourth Period: “I think they need a playmaker,” David Pagnotta said. “A puck-moving defenseman would be great. A guy like Jakob Chychrun would be fantastic. But, with respect to the playmaking side, there are a lot of finishers on this team, I don’t think there are enough facilitators. If you could clone (Mathew) Barzal, that would be fantastic.”
🔗 Schwartz: Islanders continue to wait for Ryan Pulock's return by Peter Schwartz, WFAN.com “The bottom line for the Islanders is that Pulock’s return would be a huge spark for the team…and as far as who is in and who is out, well, strength in numbers would certainly be a nice problem to have.”
🔗 Mathew Barzal and the right wingman: The search goes on by Neil Best, Newsday “Mathew Barzal prides himself on being someone who can play on a line with anyone. But at the same time, he acknowledges it would be nice for his linemates to be the same from game to game.
And we leave you with this…starting the 7 am hour of “The Morning Show with Boomer and Gio,” Boomer Esiason and Greg Gionnatti returned from a commercial break in blue and white Clark Gillies’ sweaters. Both spoke to their personal relationship with Gillies, how the news impacted them, and the lasting impact he made on those who knew him.
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