Training Camp Day 9: Power-Play Practice, Structure, Line Tweaks & More

The New York Islanders were on the ice Saturday morning following their Friday scrimmage at UBS Arena. No more cuts have been made since Wednesday, as head coach Lambert is still running a two-group format.

The groups on Saturday were pretty much the same groups we had seen back on Thursday, but there were a few slight changes.

Anthony Beauvillier was not with the first group, but Simon Holmstrom was.

The main focus of Saturday’s practice was the power play, something that looked out of sorts during the first two preseason games.

Another area of focus was the structure. Players are started to get familiar with the tweaks that Lambert has made to the Barry Trotz formula.

“I think everyone’s just getting the chemistry back,” Mathew Barzal said.  “And yeah, I think, you know, with Romanov, and a couple of new defenseman, I think everyone’s feeling more comfortable.”

READ MORE: William Dufour Reflects on His First Preseason Game

Here are the groups, with line combinations, defensive pairings and power-play lines:

Group 1 Roster:

F: Barzal, Lee, Bardreau,Parise, Nelson, Palmieri, Koivula, Johnston, Holmstrom, Iskhakov, Fasching,

D: Pulock, Pelech, Romanov, Dobson, LaDue, Helgeson

G: Varlamov, Schneider

GROUP 1 NOTABLE LINES:

Line 1: Lee-Nelson-Holmstrom

Line 2: Parise-Barzal-Palmieri

Line 3: Johnston-Bardreau-Fasching

Line 4: rotation-Koivula-Soshnikov

D1: Pelech-Pulock

D2: Romanov-Dobson

D3: Cholowski-Hutton

PP: Barzal-Lee-Palmieri, Dobson-Nelson

Noah Dobson was at the point on the power play, with Kyle Palmieri to his right and Mathew Barzal to his left. Anders Lee was net-front, while Brock Nelson played more to the outside.

” I think it worked out. I think we’re trying some different things,” Brock Nelson said. “Just want to see the look of it, see how it goes and probably react and watch some video on different teams and change things up accordingly, but I think maybe, you know, start like that.”

“It’d be nice to get some open looks and some shots.”

GROUP 2 ROSTER:

F: Bellows, Wahlstrom, Räty, Dufour, Bailey, Clutterbuck, Martin, Cizikas, Pageau, Beauvillier, Durandeau

D: Aho, Salo, Mayfield, Cholowski, Wotherspoon, Helgeson

G: Sorokin, Skarek

GROUP 2 NOTABLE LINES:

Line 1: Beauvillier-Pageau-Bailey

Line 2: Bellows-Räty-Wahlstrom

Line 3: Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck 

Line 4: Durandeau-Andreoff-Dufour

D1: Salo-Mayfield

D2: Wotherspoon-Aho

D3: LaDue-Helgeson

PP: Beauvillier/Wahlstrom-Pageau-Räty, Salo-Bailey/Bellows

Robin Salo was at the point on the power play. Aatu Räty, who has showcased strong hand-eye coordination, went directly to the blue paint. Beauvillier, Wahlstrom, Bailey, and Bellows were one-time options on their strongside, while Pageau hovered in the slot.

UPDATES FROM LANE LAMBERT:

There is no update on the status of Isaiah George, Samuel Bolduc and Ruslan Iskhakov. George has not skated since development camp due to an injury. Bolduc has skated on the ice by himself, but not with the team. Iskhakov seemed to hurt himself during Friday’s scrimmage and did not skate Saturday.

Lambert said Anthony Beauvillier skated in the second group was solely due to power-play practice.

The first-year bench boss also spoke on structure following the skate.

“Yeah, well, I think I I would use the word structure more than you know, anyway, but we’re looking for more obviously than we had,” Lambert said. “And as we go along here, and as we’re playing more five on five, you know, we’re scrimmaging at practice and these types of things, I’m finding there’s a little bit more efficiency in what we do.”

“There’s more knowledge in where to be and sometimes that takes a little bit of time so I expect it to be much better. I thought the the game at UBS yesterday was more structured as well.”