Islanders' Scott Mayfield  finally feeling normal again after ankle injury recovery

ST. LOUIS — Scott Mayfield had ample family time before the Islanders closed a three-game road trip against the Blues on Thursday night at Enterprise Center. That included dinner with his 98-year-old grandmother. The defenseman had a hard time recalling a trip to his two hometowns back-to-back, at least not one this early in the season. He grew up in St. Louis and played collegiately at Denver, where he also has family.

But regardless of the rink, the most important thing to Mayfield is he’s able to play free of pain on a nightly basis after an ankle injury plagued him all last season, eventually forcing him to shut it down in February and miss the playoffs after notching five assists in 41 games.

“I think it’s pretty clear he’s moving a lot better,” defense partner Mike Reilly said. “You can just tell he’s more mobile. Clearly, you could tell he was a little limited in what he could do [last season]. If that happens, you’re a little bit more flat-footed and you’re holding on to the puck a little bit too long, and that’s usually when mistakes happen.”

Mayfield has started this season with one assist and two penalty minutes in three games, notching the assist in Monday’s 6-2 win over the Avalanche, in which he was a plus-3.

He’s gotten used to feeling OK again.

“That was a big thing for camp, I wanted to feel normal again and get back into that routine again,” Mayfield said. “It’s been a good feeling.

“Whenever you have an injury and something that’s holding you back, there’s a mental side. There’s a physical side. There were certain positions I’d get in that I just couldn’t get any power out of. Some days it was better, some days it was worse. You try not to think about it. You just go out there and play. But when you’re in a battle and it doesn’t feel right, you end up thinking about it and it takes away from your game. I noticed that sometimes during the year last year.”

Last season started promisingly for Mayfield as he entered the first season of a seven-year, $24.5 million deal. But he blocked a shot with his left ankle in the season opener against the Sabres and missed the next two weeks.

He came back and tried to play through the discomfort, but the decision ultimately was made for Mayfield to undergo surgery.

He still was unable to put weight on his left ankle at the start of the offseason.

“I went through a lot this summer,” Mayfield said. “I was non-weight bearing on it. It took a while. You kind of feel something and you realize it’s fine. I’ve never had surgery before, so you’ve got to trust it works.”

Mayfield said he started feeling more confident by midsummer and was able to go through battle drills with his teammates during informal skates in August.

“In camp, I knew I was 100%,” Mayfield said.

The top four defensemen — Noah Dobson, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock and Alexander Romanov — all averaged more than 20 minutes of ice time through the first three games while Mayfield, one of the key penalty-killers, averaged 16:35.

But while Reilly and Mayfield are considered the Islanders’ third pair, coach Patrick Roy said he trusts all six defensemen in all situations.

“I thought they were great,” Roy said when asked to assess Mayfield and Reilly’s performance through the first three games. “Mayser is just playing better and better every game. For the number of games he missed last year, I feel like he’s in the play, he’s gapping up, he’s getting more and more comfortable coming out of the defensive zone. The decisions that he’s been making are good.”

Notes & quotes: The week-long three-game road trip afforded the Islanders some valuable bonding time after training camp. That included a team bowling outing on their off day in St. Louis. “I think it helps a lot,” Roy said. “It’s nice to be together. It gives us time to work on things we want on video and in practice. And it was fun. We gathered together the other day and had a great activity.” . . . Defenseman Dennis Cholowski and forward Julien Gauthier remained the healthy scratches.

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.