Anthony Beauvillier, Casey Cizikas Looking to Take Care of ‘Unfinished Business’

With contracts out of the way, Anthony Beauvillier and Casey Cizikas have turned their focus to the new season, which is just weeks away as the start of training camp inches closer.

After back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Semifinals, Cizikas, Beauvillier and the rest of the New York Islanders have just one thing on their mind. The Islanders are still looking to take that next step and reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1984.

“We came up short in the last two years,” Anthony Beauvillier said after the Islanders announced he, along with three others, had agreed to multiyear contract extensions. “It’s sad to see (Jordan Eberle and Nick Leddy) leave. A big part of our success over the last two years, but I think it’s just the side of the business that we can’t really control. We just have to move forward with that. … It’s going to be another fun year and another competing year for us, and hopefully we get to our goal.”

Beauvillier added: “I feel like there’s unfinished business in the past couple of years that we haven’t really accomplished our goals.”

As if the Islanders haven’t had to face plenty of challenges already during their past two seasons, they’ll be in for a few more this season. For starters, they’ll play their first 13 games of the year on the road before finally getting the chance to open their home, UBS Arena.

The Islanders won’t take the ice at the new venue until Nov. 20 against the Calgary Flames.

“It is what it is. It’s just going to create that build-up to that first home game,” Cizikas said. “We’re going to take care of business. We’re going to have a good training camp. We’re going to go into the season with that game-by-game mentality. We’re not going to get too far ahead of ourselves and just keep working.”

The Olympic pause in February means that the NHL schedule will be somewhat condensed as the league tries to fit in all 82 games this year. It will mark the first time in two seasons that the Islanders and the rest of the NHL will get to experience a normal calendar.

The sense of normalcy is something that Anthony Beauvillier is looking forward to.

“It will be fun. We’ll feel like we’re back to normal,” Beauvillier said. “Especially in this crazy world and crazy last two years. It’s definitely nice to have 82 games. I couldn’t be more excited about this year. Just the new building and the team that we have, you can’t be more excited than that.”