Anthony Beauvillier and Mathew Barzal back together again and creating chances for Islanders

 Anthony Beauvillier first met Mathew Barzal when he was 14 when the NHL Players’ Association put together an all-Canadian team of top teenage prospects. They quickly developed a friendship, Barzal helping Beauvillier, who grew up just outside of Montreal, to be more comfortable speaking English.

That off-ice friendship translated into on-ice chemistry when they were Islanders’ linemates in past seasons.

And maybe they’ll stick together on a line again in the present.

“We haven’t been together in so long that [we] just go out there and try to do our things,” Beauvillier said before the Islanders concluded their season-opening, four-game homestand against the Devils on Thursday night at UBS Arena.

Coach Lane Lambert tweaked his lines in the second period of Tuesday night’s 5-2 win over the Sharks. Beauvillier, who started the season on Brock Nelson’s right wing along with Anders Lee, found himself back on Barzal’s left wing along with Kyle Palmieri.

“It changes,” Beauvillier said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Barzy, Pager [Jean-Gabriel Pageau], Zeeker [Casey Cizikas] down the middle. We’re so deep in the middle that it doesn’t really matter who you go with. It happens, line shuffles during the game. You’ve just got to adapt quick and make sure you’re ready for anything.”

The quick-skating Beauvillier, already entering his seventh NHL season as a 25-year-old, had a goal and an assist in the Islanders’ first three games. His speed — and Barzal’s — has meshed with Lambert’s system of an aggressive attack and trying to transition the puck quickly out of the defensive zone.

Then-coach Doug Weight first put Beauvillier and Barzal together on a line midway through the 2017-18 season, and Barzal set career highs with 63 assists and 85 points.

“They have speed so they can play a pretty fast north game,” said Lambert. “The nice thing about Beau is he’s using his skating and his quickness to stay on pucks. Stopping and starting a lot and he’s done a really good job of hunting pucks down.”

“When we played together the first couple of years, I thought we had a lot of chemistry just being friends,” Beauvillier said.

Yet the two haven’t been used together on a line regularly the past couple of seasons.

And Lambert wasn’t committing to a permanent reunion now.

He has been pleased with the start of Beauvillier’s season.

“He puts pressure on the other team, on their defense,” Lambert said. “You’ve seen in the first few games when he is pressuring and staying on these pucks offensively, he’s created turnovers. Whether it be him stealing the puck or putting enough pressure on a defenseman to make a bad play so that somebody else behind him in our system can get the puck back.”

“I think I’ve had three good games,” Beauvillier said. “There’s always room for improvement. Overall, I’ve had energy and some pace to my game and I can use my speed a little bit more.”

Beauvillier relayed all his thoughts in unbroken English with just a hint of an accent. That wasn’t the case when he first met Barzal, who grew up in Coquitlam, British Columbia.

“My English wasn’t really good at that time and his French was probably better than my English,” Beauvillier said. “We kind of connected there. Two guys who were full of energy. We kind of just clicked right away. He’s got a lot of French blood in him so I think that’s why we connected.

“I would say my English is better than his French now. But he can definitely understand it and speak a little bit.”

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.