TORONTO — Three months in the past, Mathew Barzal was picturing what he may do on a high line with Bo Horvat and Anthony Duclair, the heights to which the trio may take the Islanders and what it may be prefer to play for Group Canada in February.
It took simply 5 video games of the season for that plan to hit a velocity bump within the type of Duclair getting harm with a suspected groin damage, then 5 extra for it to go off the rails altogether when Barzal received harm himself — costing him any shot at a nationwide group choice and placing the Islanders on a again foot from which they’ve but to get better.
All indicators are pointing to the Islanders lastly taking part in at one thing resembling full power Saturday night time in opposition to the Maple Leafs, with Duclair a full-go at Friday’s observe and coach Partick Roy calling him a game-time choice solely out of warning, conceding that it “looks like he’s gonna play.”
Resembling full power and really being one hundred pc, nonetheless, are two various things.
Barzal is seeing that firsthand over his first video games again from an upper-body damage.
“Anyone that comes back, six weeks out, [even if] you score a couple goals here and there, you’re still not feeling 100 percent,” Barzal advised The Publish on Friday. “In terms of the actual injury, it’s 100 percent, but you gotta get your legs and lungs.”
Two video games post-return, No. 13 described himself as doing “OK” — the inflection in his tone indicating that OK nonetheless is way from the place he desires to be. In these two video games, losses in Chicago and Carolina, Barzal didn’t rating some extent and was minus-3, with a number of noticeable cases of his timing wanting off.
Although his velocity and skating nonetheless add dimensions for the Islanders, he has but to influence video games the way in which he did final yr, when he reached the 80-point threshold for the primary time since his rookie season.
“Try to just work on it in practice right now,” Barzal mentioned. “Get some good sweats going, get that heart rate up so I can get in shape quicker. That’s really it. It’s obviously not pleasant, necessarily, to be injured and come back and need to get your cardio back, but it is what it is. I can only work at it.”
Barzal additionally has but to be paired on a line with Horvat — a pattern that appears set to proceed in Toronto.
If Friday’s observe is any indication, it seems the trio that made up the opening-night high line can be utterly cut up in opposition to the Leafs, as Duclair skated on Brock Nelson’s line, Horvat between Max Tsyplakov and Simon Holmstrom and Barzal with Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
It’s a tradeoff between a deeper lineup and having a legit scoring line, and proper now, Roy is selecting the deeper lineup.
“I like having [Barzal] as a center because he can skate with the puck more,” Roy mentioned. “Feels like it’s easier for him. I think it’s his natural position, in a way. What I also like is having the centers like we have — Nelly, Bo, him, Casey [Cizikas]. It’s a lot tougher for the other teams to match up.”
On paper, he’s proper, however whether or not that interprets to the ice stays to be seen.
The Islanders (12-14-7) may lastly be again at full power, however they’ll’t afford to cost in one other few weeks earlier than they really begin taking part in prefer it.
Stacking factors — and doing it proper now — is of pressing import to keep away from the season slipping away.
“There hasn’t been an ounce of belief lost in this room,” Barzal mentioned. “That’s been one thing that’s been consistent since I’ve been here. Wherever we are in the standings, we’re always confident that we can make a push.”
The Islanders want that push to occur quickly, they usually want their returning stars to be on the entrance strains of it.
