Idle Isles hoping recent rise in play carries through COVID and Christmas breaks

This stop-and-start Islanders season has come to another extended break amid an NHL-wide COVID-19 outbreak. The team hopes it doesn’t sap whatever momentum has been built.

The Islanders practiced on Monday rather than hosting Montreal, as scheduled games between U.S. and Canadian teams already had been postponed through the NHL’s planned three-day holiday break, which was supposed to start Friday.

Instead, the NHL and NHL Players’ Association made the decision later Monday to pause all team activities starting Wednesday through this coming Sunday afternoon.

That means Thursday’s scheduled game against the Capitals at UBS Arena also has been postponed and the Islanders will next play at Buffalo on Dec. 27.

The Islanders (8-12-6) have earned at least one point in seven of their last nine games after Sunday’s 4-3 shootout loss to visiting Vegas. They sit 11 points out of the Eastern Conference’s last wild-card spot.

"I’ve sort of been rolling with the punches. I think everybody has," coach Barry Trotz said after Monday’s session at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. "Would we have liked to play today? Absolutely. I thought we played really well Sunday] night. The players know when they’re on. The coaches know when they’re getting to that level. You want to keep playing because you’re feeling good about your own game.

"We’ve got to maintain it somehow. I think the guys understand it. You hope it doesn’t dissipate. That we come back and we’re ready to go and we still feel good about our game."

The Islanders had two games postponed Nov. 28 and Nov. 30 when they had eight players unavailable because of COVID-19. Mathew Barzal, Matt Martin and Robin Salo were in COVID-19 protocol on Monday.

They’ve already had a scheduled stretch of one game in 10 days during their season-opening 13-game road trip, followed quickly by another stretch of one game in seven days.

"I don’t think we need a break," Anthony Beauvillier said. "We’ve played some good hockey lately and we’re trying to build on our game. We want to keep grinding and keep climbing."

Notes & quotes: Ryan Pulock (long-term injured reserve, lower body), who has not played since Nov. 15, has yet to resume skating on his own, and there’s no timetable for him to do so. "He’s still doing therapy," Trotz said. "He should be skating in a few days or so. It all depends on his rehab. Right now, he hasn’t been on the ice and I don’t have an exact time." Pulock initially was expected to miss four to six weeks . . . Defenseman Andy Greene said he didn’t know what to expect from Sunday’s pregame ceremony honoring his 1,000th NHL game on Nov. 15 at Tampa Bay. It included video tributes from past and present teammates with the Islanders and Devils, with his mother, wife and two young sons on the ice alongside him. "I’ve never been through something like that," he said. "I’ve been through other people’s ceremonies, but not one for myself. It was awesome. It’s something that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives."

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.