Islanders' Andy Greene: 'We're not carried by one or two guys here or there'

You can tell, from all the gray in his playoff beard, that Andy Greene has been around the block a time or two. He’s seen some things. And he knows what’s important as far as making long playoff runs.

“You know, it's a team game,’’ Greene said on the Islanders’ Zoom call Sunday, as the team wrapped up its preparation for Game 1 of its second-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers Monday. “It's up and down the lineup, and it doesn't matter if you're not playing Game 1 [and] Game 2 you come in, you get your first chance of the series. You just step in and you fill your role, you do your job, and it's a team.

“We're not carried by one or two guys here or there,’’ the veteran defenseman said.

The Islanders, who arrived in the second round by polishing off the Washington Capitals in five games in their first round series, are not exactly one of the NHL’s glamour teams. They don’t have a surefire Hall of Famer on the roster, a la the Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin, nor do they have one of those loaded top forward lines that keeps opposing coaches up at night.

What they do have is depth, both in the lineup, where they rely on all four forward lines, and in the form of the extra players on hand with them in the Toronto bubble. When Johnny Boychuk was injured in Game 1 of the Isles’ qualifying series against Florida, coach Barry Trotz inserted the 37-year-old Greene into his spot. And the former Devils captain has played well enough that Trotz has chosen to keep him in the lineup even with Boychuk now healthy.

And when Trotz wanted a little more physicality in the lineup for the Game 5 clincher against Washington Friday, he was able to insert the 6-5, 235-pound Ross Johnston to give his team a different look.

So far, a total of 22 skaters and one goaltender (Semyon Varlamov) have played in at least one of the Islanders’ nine postseason games. If they can extend their playoff run, that number could grow. 

“They're really, really, I'll say, ‘professional’ in terms of their approach,’’ Trotz said of the extra players who are practicing and have yet to crack the lineup. “For those guys, it is probably a little tougher mentally to stay in it, because they're not in the game, and the days are longer. And the joys of winning and losing are — they're there, but they're not as vivid, as [for] the guys that are in the actual game. So, to those [extra] guys I have a tremendous amount of respect, how they've handled themselves.’’

Johnston played 32 of the 68 games in the regular season and he played in the warmup game the Isles had against the Rangers in Toronto before the qualifying round series against Florida. But he missed the first eight postseason games before Trotz called on him Friday.

“You're not coming off a season where you may have played two weeks ago, and you're jumping into a game,’’ Johnston said about entering the lineup after not playing in so long. “But I was fortunate enough where I played that . . . pre-playoff game against the Rangers, and I could take some confidence from that and carry it over into practices and keep myself ready for, I guess, the opportunity.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.