Late start to season gave Islanders time to work on things
Lane Lambert has had plenty of time this week to sit on his couch and watch hockey. The NHL season began on Tuesday. His Islanders finally open Saturday night against the Sabres at UBS Arena.
“We all love the game,” the second-year coach said after Friday’s practice at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. “Certainly, last night was very interesting for us seeing Buffalo play. You flip a little bit in between periods and you go to New Jersey. We’re all hockey fans. You want to get started, for sure.
“My wife asked me Tuesday night when we started to watch the first game if this gets you excited. I said, ‘Yeah, it does.’ ”
The Islanders and Ducks are the last teams to get started.
The youthful Sabres, with solid expectations that they can snap a 12-season playoff drought, opened with a 5-1 loss to the visiting Rangers on Thursday night.
The Islanders went 42-31-9 in their first season under Lambert, promoted to replace his former boss, Barry Trotz. Then they were eliminated by the Hurricanes in six games in the first round of the playoffs.
So yeah, the Islanders are a bit antsy to start playing.
“It was not ideal,” defenseman Noah Dobson said of the long wait. “I think we’re all sick of practicing against one another and we’re ready to get going. Especially when you see other teams playing, it gets you anxious a little bit to get going. I thought we used the week well and we got better in some areas and really tried dialing in our game. So hopefully we hit the ground running.”
“You look around the league and watching games, it just gets the goose bumps a little higher,” center Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. “But we had some things to work on. I think we took advantage of it.”
The Islanders worked plenty on special teams during practice this week, knowing they have to improve their power play after finishing 30th in the NHL last season at 15.8% (35-for-222). That would help them improve their production overall after they were 23rd in the league last season with 243 goals.
Their goal differential of plus-21 ranked 15th, largely thanks to franchise goalie Ilya Sorokin, who finished second in the Vezina Trophy balloting.
“I feel good,” said Sorokin, starting his fourth season with the Islanders. “I can’t wait to start the game. Sure, before every game you have nerves. When the game starts, they go out. It’s always the same. The same nerves. The calendar, you can’t change nothing, so we’re just ready for tomorrow’s game.”
The Islanders enter Saturday’s opener knowing they must take advantage of their early schedule. They will play three straight at home and six of eight in October.
Notes & quotes: Sorokin is expected to start against the Sabres, but Lambert would only say “we’ll see” when asked who will be in net . . . Forwards Julien Gauthier and Oliver Wahlstrom and defenseman Samuel Bolduc are expected to be the scratches.
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.
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