Islanders Scrimmage: The Takeaways & Who to Watch

For the first time on this side of the summer, the New York Islanders played in a 60-minute game. It was only a scrimmage but played with a real strong pace.

The Lineups:

Blue Team:

Tsyplalov-Pageau-Gauthier
Randl-Thiesing-Palmieri
Foudy-Pinho-Fasching
Piercey-Maggio-Thompson

Odelius-Pulock
George-Hutton
Bolduc-Fulp

Tikkanen (1st period), Skarek (2nd & 3rd period)

White Team:

Gatcomb-Nelson-Liukas
Dufour-Karlstrom-Holmstrom
Lee-Gill-Wahlstrom
Jeffries-Bardreau-Engvall

Pelech-Mitchell
Warren-Cholowski
Reilly-Newpower

Hogberg (1st & 2nd period), Tikkanen (3rd period)

(Brief) Game Recap:

The blue team won 3-2 over the white team, with goals from Matt Maggio, Riley Piercey, and Brian Pinho. The white goal scorers were Alex Jefferies and Anders Lee.

Jefferies opened up the festivities in the first period with a nifty rebound goal in the slot due to a Pierre Engvall shot. It nearly became 2-0 early in the second when William Dufour earned a penalty shot, but got denied by Jakub Skarek.

That lead lasted until the second period when Hudson Fasching made a pretty pass to set up Pinho with a breakaway. Pinho buried it over Marcus Hogberg’s blocker.

Soon after, Maggio earned himself a penalty shot (any penalty became a penalty shot) and buried it glove-side.

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That brought on the third period when Riley Piercey ripped home a shot so clean that hardly anyone even saw it go in. It doubled the blue team’s edge and proved to be the winning goal.

Lee got a penalty shot and made no mistake, becoming the only skater to beat Jakub Skarek during the scrimmage.

Then, the scrimmage ended with a classic bag skate. Aidan Fulp led his group (the defensemen) through their skates, Lee led his half of the forwards during the bag skates, and Jack Randl led the other forwards.

How’d Everyone Look?

This was the first game-type scenario in which any of these players have been since April. It’s sometimes tough to gauge exactly where some players are, but that’s exactly what we will do anyway.

Simon Holmstrom: Holmstrom looked really good during the scrimmage. Roy’s comments yesterday about testing well physically entering camp. He constantly broke up rush opportunities for the opposition and forced turnovers during the game. The best example was when Liam Foudy came rushing up the ice, Holmstrom back-checked, caught up to the speedster, lifted his stick, and stole the puck, clean as a whistle.

If Holmstrom added that level of precise strength and ability to his game, he would force Roy’s hand into the lineup.

Holmstrom spoke to NYI Hockey Now about taking that next step forward and forcing Roy’s hand.

“You get more confidence after every game, and after every season when you reflect on the past season, so I think it’s just it’s calming down, and I just got to stay with it be a pro both on and off the ice and you know work hard every day.”

Then, Holmstrom talked about wanting to add more offense to his game:

“I’ve always been an offensive guy, and I think that’s where I have my biggest qualities. I know I haven’t really shown them every night, every game, night in and night out, so I think it’s been there some games and a couple of shifts every game, but to be a player like that, you got to do it every night”

Samuel Bolduc: Samuel Bolduc enters camp in a big year. The Islanders expect him to take another step forward and try to force Roy’s hand. After a couple of practices and now a scrimmage, Bolduc had this to say about where he’s at:

“I think yesterday went pretty well in the first hour or so. It’s a tough skate. Then today was a little bit hard to get into the game in the beginning. I didn’t have many touches (with the puck), but the more the game was going, the better I think I got.”

He’s pretty spot-on with his assessment. It was definitely a slow start as he adjusted to the game speed. He clearly gained confidence and comfortability as it went on and had an overall good showing.

Maxim Tsyplakov: Maxim Tsyplakov showed his prowess in front of the net during the scrimmage. He had a slower start but hasn’t played in a game in months. He was also the first to tell NYI Hockey Now that.

“I had a long summer, a lot of practice. Yesterday’s practice was hard, so maybe I came into today not so fresh. Once it got going, my line improved. Communication is important, and it got better as it went on.”

Throughout the scrimmage, Tsyplakov constantly crashed the net in the offensive zone, forcing himself to screen whichever goaltender was in the net. He told NYI Hockey Now that’s his game, and Islanders fans should expect that from him constantly.

Bridgeport Report:

Aidan Fulp really stood out again. He matched the pace of even the fastest forwards against him, forcing Pierre Engvall into a turnover at one point. His strong camp continued, and he was paired with Bolduc, an NHLer, who had this to say about Fulp:

“He’s pretty good. He’s pretty solid defensive. He’s a big body, and he’s not afraid to go in the corner and have a battle. He’s a big guy. Fulp kind of makes me think a little bit of Mayfield.”

It’s not a bad comparison for a guy who wants to be a shutdown defender.

Travis Mitchell, another Bridgeport defenseman, had a strong day. He’s a physical force out there. Alex Jefferies, who scored a goal, has some skill. Grant Hutton had a strong day defensively.

Maggio drove a lot of offensive players, even as a center for the first time.