Islanders' Mathew Barzal back at center for pivotal game against Red Wings
Islanders' Mathew Barzal (13) brings the puck up ice against the Carolina Hurricanes during the third period at UBS Arena in Elmont on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Credit: Brad Penner
DETROIT — Mathew Barzal has played both left and right wings this season. But he is, and will forever be, a natural center.
So coach Patrick Roy put him back in the middle for the Islanders’ crucial match against the Red Wings on Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena, where a regulation win would bring them within a point of the hosts for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot and a regulation loss would drop them a cavernous five points back.
Barzal has played some shifts as a center during occasional games, including Tuesday’s 4-1 defeat to the Hurricanes at UBS Arena that extended the Islanders’ losing streak to five. But Thursday marked the first time since the Islanders acquired Bo Horvat to be their top-line center that Barzal has started a game as a pivot.
“When you lose three, four in a row, at some point something has got to change a little bit,” Barzal told Newsday. “I love playing with Bo and I thought we were going pretty solid for a little while. Just ran into a little bit of a dry spell, not only as a line but as a team. Patrick needs to make a change to try and spark the group.”
Barzal centered Anders Lee and Hudson Fasching on a new second line with Kyle Palmieri remaining on Horvat’s right wing along with Brock Nelson. Jean-Gabriel Pageau returned to the third line in between Pierre Engvall and Simon Holmstrom, while Casey Cizikas went back to the fourth line, skating between Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle MacLean with Matt Martin, who grew up across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario, a healthy scratch.
“The last couple of games, [Horvat’s] line been really the only line producing,” said Barzal, who skated on Pageau’s right wing along with Lee the previous two games. “I’ve got to find a way with my line to produce.”
Barzal entered Thursday with just one assist during the Islanders’ losing streak and without a goal in six games. Roy put him back in the middle in the second period against the Hurricanes.
“He just asked me if I wanted to go play center,” Barzal said. “I’m willing to play left, right, center, it doesn’t really matter to me. It doesn’t matter where anyone’s playing, really, If you’re in the lineup, out of the lineup, it’s all about the team right now.”
Meanwhile, Thursday represented another opportunity for Fasching, who re-entered the lineup against the Hurricanes after being out for 18 of the previous 19 games.
“Leesy and I can clear some space for Barzy and give him some room to operate,” Fasching said. “It’s been good getting in a couple of games in a row and being able to get my reads back in order and be quicker on all my reads.”
The other potentially interesting combination was having MacLean slide from fourth-line center, where he was inserted for a 3-2 overtime victory in Dallas on Feb. 26 that kick-started a six-game winning streak, to Cizikas’ left wing.
Both are high-energy skaters with some physical snarl.
“I’ve played wing before and I’m comfortable out there,” MacLean said. “It’s nice having a couple of centers on the line where you can interchange and both can kind of play wherever. We know results matter right now and we’ve got to get out of this slump. We still have our eyes on the playoffs.”
Notes & quotes: Ilya Sorokin started his third straight game and 18th in 24 matches since Roy was hired. Roy said Semyon Varlamov would start Saturday afternoon against the Jets at UBS Arena and Sorokin would be back in net against the visiting Devils on Sunday . . . Engvall was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch on Tuesday. “We had a good talk [Wednesday] morning,” Roy said. “Pierre has to be a leader on this team. He’s got to show by example. We need him to play well in games and play hard and practice well and be sharp when we have meetings." . . . Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo played his first game since injuring his ankle on Jan. 2 . . . Defensemen Sebastian Aho and Samuel Bolduc and forward Oliver Wahlstrom were also healthy scratches.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
