The Islanders headed to practice at Northwell Health Ice Center on Friday with a Western Conference road trip looming and a few familiar faces still out of the mix.
Pete DeBoer skated his club in these lines:
Simon Holmström - Bo Horvat - Kyle Palmieri
Emil Heineman - Brayden Schenn - Victor Eklund
Ondřej Palát - JG Pageau - Anthony Duclair
Kyle MacLean - Casey Cizikas - Mitchell Chaffee
Logan Stanley - Matthew Schaefer
Adam Pelech - Ryan Pulock
Matt Kessel - Tony DeAngelo
Scott Mayfield
Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov
DeBoer also said injured Islanders Mathew Barzal, Cal Ritchie and Matias Maccelli will not travel with the team on the upcoming trip.
The Islanders open the three-game swing Sunday in Dallas, which means DeBoer is going back to the rink where he coached from 2022-25. He said the return carries some feeling, but he isn’t dwelling on it.
"I've done this a few times, a few different spots. Your first game back is always a little special," DeBoer said.
"You know a lot of people you spent a lot of time with and worked with and players. It was a great chapter in my coaching career, but I'm now coaching the Islanders and focused on that.
So it'll be nice to go back, but not spending a lot of time on it."
Brayden Schenn, who spent eight years in St. Louis and saw plenty of the Stars, expects a demanding matchup right out of the gate. Dallas leads the NHL with 1.60 GA/GP, while the Islanders sit third at 2.20.
"Every time you go in there, it's hard, heavy hockey," Schenn said of Dallas. "Not much room on both sides when you go in there.
They're obviously a good team that plays the right way with details and structure. And on top of all the talent they have, they play a really good team game, and that's what we got to expect."
Schenn has slid back to center after Ritchie’s lower-body injury, which will keep the young center out for 4-6 weeks. He’s now centered Emil Heineman and Victor Eklund in back-to-back games.
"Schenn's done a good job," DeBoer said. "I think he's a natural center.
He's played in the middle for his whole career. The way we play, we don't change much.
So, whether you line up in center doesn't necessarily mean playing center all over the ice, so I think he has played some center even with Ritchie when Ritchie was there. But it's a nice luxury to have a veteran guy that you know when you have a problem there because you know next to goaltending and you know it's probably the toughest spot to fill and feel comfortable and trust as a coach because there's a lot of responsibility comes with that job."
That Schenn line paid off Thursday night, when Eklund scored the opening goal in the Islanders’ overtime loss and picked up his second goal in as many games.
"That Eklund, Schenn, Heineman line was the best for us analytically and by the eye test," DeBoer said of the line's performance against the Kings. "I think when you're winning games and we pick up points in four in a row here or something like that, I think it's a different line every night kind of steps up.
You got to have a couple lines going. So, it was nice for them to really carry the bulk last game for us, because some other lines have done it on some different nights."
In Other News...
Islanders Fans Just Got A New Belmont Game Day Perk
Belmont Park racetrack is back in action after its redevelopment, and Islanders fans now have a new game-day option when the schedules line up. On days when a home game overlaps with live racing, ticket holders can use a promotion linked in the teams game-day email to claim free general admission to the track, adding a little extra to an already busy outing around the arena.
It is a neat perk for anyone looking to make a full day of it around Elmont, even if the logistics still matter. The admission itself is covered through the offer, but parking is not included and has to be paid for separately, so fans will still need to plan ahead if they want to take advantage of both events. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Still Stuck Waiting On A Real Mathew Barzal Update
The Islanders are still waiting for a meaningful update on Mathew Barzal, and for now the most important detail is the one they still do not have. Barzal remains sidelined with knee inflammation, leaving the club without its top playmaker and without a firm sense of when he might be available again.
There has been some small progress, with Barzal skating lightly on his own as the inflammation has eased, but he is still not close to returning. For a team trying to steady its lineup, the absence has become a lingering source of uncertainty, and the lack of a timeline only keeps that concern hanging over the roster a little longer. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Still Have Unfinished Business With Rantanen After Roy's Exit
Mikko Rantanens hit from behind on Alexander Romanov last season remains one of those moments that still lingers around the Islanders, especially because of how forcefully Patrick Roy reacted in the aftermath. Roy is no longer behind the bench, but the memory of that sequence has hardly faded for a team that took the incident personally and has had to carry the consequences ever since.
Romanov is now sidelined again, this time with a torn ACL, and the Islanders are heading toward their next meeting with the Stars without both the defenseman and the coach who made his feelings so clear. Even with the personnel changes, the game still carries a little edge for New York, which will be looking for a response that shows the group can absorb another setback and keep moving. [Read more 🡒]