Lane Lambert plays it cool ahead of first game as Islanders head coach

New Islanders coach Lane Lambert is consistently low key with his off-ice public comments, staying on an even keel devoid of much emotion. That, of course, meshes perfectly with president and general manager Lou Lamoriello’s insistence on divulging as little information as possible.

So while Lambert downplayed any special personal significance with Thursday night’s season opener against the Panthers at UBS Arena marking his first game as an NHL bench boss — a three-game interim stint in January substituting for ex-Islanders coach Barry Trotz notwithstanding — his players knew better.

“I mean, it’s special,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said after Thursday’s morning skate. “It’s got to be like playing your first game. He’s been behind the bench before and he had a little stint where he was acting as the head coach. But I think this is different. It’s his. He’s the man in charge. It’s a special night for him. But you don’t notice anything different. I don’t think he’s going to show any nerves.”

Prior to being promoted from associate coach, Lambert had not served as a head coach since his stint with Milwaukee in the AHL from 2007 to 2011. He had served on Trotz’s staffs with the Predators, Capitals and Islanders since then.

“There’s a lot of differences, it was a long time ago,” Lambert said. “Things have changed. The speed of the game. Some of the thought processes. Some of the ways the offense is created.”

Lambert’s mandate with the Islanders is simple, if not necessarily easy.  He must reverse last season’s downward trend — a playoff miss for the first time since 2018 after back-to-back trips to the NHL semifinals — while coaxing a more aggressive style in the offensive zone with a faster pace from his players, 21 who return from last season’s squad.

He’s also guiding a new coaching staff, though director of goaltending Mitch Korn and goalie coach Piero Greco are holdovers from Trotz’s tenure.

John MacLean, who served as the Devils’ coach under Lamoriello for 33 games in 2010, is in charge of the forwards and the power play. Former Islander Doug Houda is guiding the defensemen and the penalty kill.

The trio had not worked together previously.

“It is the very first time that the three of us have been together,” Lambert said after the Islanders opened their 4-2-0 preseason with a loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 26. “There are different ways of looking at things that they can read off of me. It’s like everything else. It’s a process of growing.”

Lambert was pleased with that growth process over the course of the last two-plus weeks.

“I feel really comfortable,” Lambert said. “We’re new partners. We’re building chemistry as well. Both of them, calm, intelligent guys that have been really good not only for the players but for me. I think as an assistant, you always read off of that [what the head coach is doing]. That’s one of their strengths from what I’ve seen from six games of preseason hockey.”

From the players’ standpoint, Pulock described it as “an easy transition right from Game 1” of the preseason.

“For them, it’s just learning the guys a little bit,” Pulock said. “For us, it’s learning their tendencies a little bit. They’re sharp back there. They know what’s going on and they’re just as ready as we are. There’s been no issues there. As you go along you start really getting tighter and knowing each other better and that’s just going to continue to grow.”

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.