Islanders Wrap Grueling Road Trip With Playoff Hopes Intact - and Some Bonding Memories to Boot
SEATTLE - Seven games. Sixteen days.
Countless hours in hotels, on buses, and in the air. The New York Islanders just wrapped up one of the longest road trips in recent memory - and they’re flying back to Long Island with more than just points in the standings.
They’re bringing back confidence, chemistry, and a sense that this team, despite the grind, is still very much in the hunt.
“Yeah, it’s been long,” said veteran defenseman Adam Pelech. “But, I don’t know, it kind of goes by fast in a way as well. It hasn’t been brutal by any means.”
That sentiment echoed throughout the locker room. For all the physical wear and tear, this trip had its moments - on and off the ice.
“This is a fun road trip,” said Mathew Barzal. “As much as it is tiring and taxing on the body, it is fun being around the boys for so long. I like it on the road.”
And that camaraderie matters. Because this wasn’t just a quick jaunt through the division - this was a coast-to-coast test, a stretch that had the potential to derail playoff hopes before February even began.
Instead, the Islanders held their ground. They entered Seattle with a 3-2-1 record on the trip, giving themselves a shot to finish strong and return home with their heads high.
That’s no small feat, especially considering the initial reaction when the NHL schedule dropped back in July. Two seven-game road trips - one in November, one in January - stood out as potential stumbling blocks.
The November swing turned out to be a statement-making 6-1-0 run. This one?
Not quite as dominant, but still a success by most measures.
Coach Patrick Roy, who’s still settling into his role behind the bench, took a measured approach.
“I didn’t try to say to myself, ‘Oh, this will be a good trip if we’re this and this, or that and that,’” Roy said. “Let’s play one game at a time and I think that’s what we did. If you had said to me before the trip we were going to win in Minny and Edmonton, I would say, ‘Where do I sign?’”
Hard to argue with that logic. The Islanders picked up a gutsy overtime win in Minnesota, rallied from behind multiple times, and shut down one of the league’s most dangerous players in Edmonton - holding Connor McDavid off the scoresheet and snapping his 20-game point streak in a 1-0 win. That one, in particular, felt like a statement.
Of course, there were bumps along the way. The trip opened with a shootout loss in Nashville.
Winnipeg handed the Isles a 5-4 defeat in a game where the team just didn’t have its legs. And by the time they hit Calgary, the fatigue was setting in.
“I felt it during the Calgary game,” Barzal admitted. “It started to feel long.
Once you kind of get over that, you’re like, ‘OK, we’ve only got two more games, let’s just push through it.’ That Calgary game, I definitely felt a little bit tired.”
Still, the team found ways to stay fresh - and not just on the ice. Credit goes to captain Anders Lee for orchestrating a much-needed morale boost midway through the trip.
When he saw a two-day break between games in Minnesota and Winnipeg - and knowing he has a home in Edina - he organized a team gathering at his place. Pond hockey, fire pits, and even some neighborhood kids jumping into the action.
It was the kind of team-building moment that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet but can make all the difference in a locker room.
That kind of leadership matters during a stretch like this. The Islanders weren’t just trying to survive a long road trip - they were trying to stay in the playoff mix. And they did just that.
Now, they head home with their season goals still within reach. The road didn’t break them. If anything, it might’ve made them stronger.
Notes & Quotes:
- Coach Patrick Roy kept forward Max Tsyplakov in the lineup against Seattle, even after the winger logged just 6:43 of ice time in the previous game against Vancouver - the lowest on the team. Tsyplakov had been a healthy scratch in five of the previous six games, but Roy wanted to give him another shot, slotting him alongside Casey Cizikas and fellow Russian Max Shabanov on the fourth line.
“We all want him to succeed,” Roy said. “We’ll give him a little bit of excitement playing with Shabby.
I know they love to play together. Shame on me for not giving him more [minutes] on Monday, but sometimes, you do what you think is the right thing to do as a coach.
We’re not always perfect.”
- Defenseman Cole McWard and forward Marc Gatcomb were the healthy scratches in Seattle.