Isles' Mathew Barzal, Simon Holmstrom may be paired together in return
Simon Holmstrom has been out since Dec. 23 with a lower-body injury. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Coach Lane Lambert reported the good news that top-pair Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech, out since Dec. 6 with a suspected head injury, has finally resumed skating on his own and has been on the ice three times.
Of course, that’s no indication Pelech’s return to the Islanders’ lineup is imminent.
But, in better immediate injury news, both Mathew Barzal and Simon Holmstrom are likely to be available when the Islanders open a five-game homestand against the Stars on Tuesday night.
Judging by Monday’s practice at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow, Barzal and Holmstrom likely will be linemates on a top trio with Anders Lee.
Barzal, dealing with a lower-body tweak, missed Friday’s 4-1 loss in Calgary that concluded the Islanders’ 1-3-0 western swing. He has a five-game goal streak, with six goals and two assists in that span. Holmstrom has missed six games since a scary knee-to-knee collision with the Panthers’ Sam Bennett on Dec. 23.
“Those last few games [Holmstrom] was playing with Pager [Jean-Gabriel Pageau] and I, he played so well those last couple of games,” Zach Parise said. “You just felt so bad for him. You felt he was improving and improving. Just his confidence with the puck, his patience with the puck, you could see how that was coming.”
Holmstrom, the 23rd overall pick in 2019, has a goal and an assist in his first 14 NHL games. Lambert used him on Barzal’s line for his first four NHL games but Holmstrom has mainly skated with Pageau and Parise since.
“He’s just a solid player,” Brock Nelson said. “The eye test with him is he’s just extremely smooth. He’s strong on the puck. He’s a good skater. He looks efficient. He’s just a smart player all around, offensively and defensively. He’s got a really good stick. He’s able to make a lot of subtle plays.”
The Islanders could use improvements on both sides of the puck after being outscored 12-4 in losses to the Kraken, Oilers and Flames on their road trip.
Notes & quotes: Goalie Ilya Sorokin is expected to start for the ninth time in 10 games . . . Lambert altered his power-play personnel, reuniting a top unit of defenseman Noah Dobson quarterbacking Barzal, Pageau, Nelson and Lee. The second unit featured two defensemen, with Sebastian Aho on the blue line and Ryan Pulock on the left half-wall, along with Anthony Beauvillier, Josh Bailey and Parise. “[Pulock] has that shot element and Sebastian has great mobility up top,” Lambert said. “We’ve talked about our power play and its struggles and we need to get better and we will.” The Islanders are 2-for-36 over their last 12 games . . . Lambert also reunited his usual fourth line of Casey Cizikas between Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck. It’s been 10 games since that trio played together . . . Kyle Palmieri (injured reserve/upper body) continued to skate with the team but is expected to miss his 11th game and 21st out of the last 22 . . . Oliver Wahlstrom (injured reserve/lower body) has not resumed skating.
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.
