Islanders looking for quick start with 10-day break over

The importance of starting quickly as their 10-day All-Star Game/bye week break finally ends on Saturday afternoon is not lost on the Islanders.

“We’ve got to win every night,” said defenseman Ryan Pulock, whose team will begin a three-game Brooklyn homestand against the Canucks at Barclays Center. “We’ve just got to be prepared to play basically playoff hockey from here on out.”

But it’s also not lost on the Islanders, certainly not coach Barry Trotz, that successful playoff-like hockey means keeping mistakes to a minimum.

And one thing that uncharacteristically marked the Islanders’ 2-3-2 stretch in the 11 days preceding the in-season vacation was costly late-game mistakes.

For instance, the Islanders held a four-goal lead on the Rangers in the third period at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 21 when defenseman Scott Mayfield took a double-minor for spearing. The Rangers scored twice on the ensuing four-minute power play and the Islanders had to sweat out a 4-2 win. All-Star Mathew Barzal was benched for the third period of that game after a second-period turnover.

The Capitals scored five third-period goals in a 6-4 win at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum on Jan. 18 after defenseman Devon Toews mocked Evgeny Kuznetsov’s bird-like goal celebration. And in the final minute of a 3-2 loss to the Rangers at the Coliseum on Jan. 16, Derick Brassard was called for cross-checking, setting up Chris Kreider’s power-play winner.

“We had a reality check in Carolina and we talked about a lot of things,” Trotz said of a 2-1 shootout loss to the Hurricanes on Jan. 19. “Those are the things that can’t happen down the stretch for us. We had a number of them in a row where it impacted us in terms of our points or possible points, and it’s too tight of a league.

“Sometimes you do things when you’re tired, grumpy, fatigued, can’t think straight,” Trotz added. “We’ll put it up to we’re glad it happened during the regular season and it won’t happen if we can make it to the postseason.”

Trotz said that after Mayfield’s spearing penalty against the Rangers, to show his trust in one of his top penalty-killers, he put the defenseman right back on the ice after the Islanders were whistled for a too-many-men infraction — but he also told him, “They better not score again.”

As for Barzal, Trotz said there was no need to talk things out. He said their relationship is fine and likened it to a disappointed father temporarily taking the car keys away from his son.

“Still love him,” Trotz said. “We won’t be able to win without him. I don’t hold grudges a whole lot. It’s part of growing up as a player.”

Notes & quotes: Pulock skated with rookie Noah Dobson for the second day in a row on Friday in East Meadow. Nick Leddy again was paired with Johnny Boychuk. Trotz split up that longtime pair, putting Dobson with Boychuk and Leddy with Pulock, after Pulock’s partner, Adam Pelech, suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury on Jan. 2 . . . Retired defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, now a member of the Islanders’ player development staff, practiced with the team for the second straight day.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

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.