All these off days are actually turning in favor of the Islanders.
Despite coach Jack Capuano’s jokingly unrealistic longing for no days between games, the two days that will separate each of the first four games of the second-round series with the Lightning are proving beneficial. After no on-ice team work on Sunday, the Islanders will practice Monday in preparation for Game 3 on Tuesday night at Barclays Center, with the best-of-seven contest tied one game apiece.
Set to take part in that practice is defenseman Ryan Pulock, who has been out since Game 4 of the opening-round series against the Panthers with an upper-body injury. All signs point to Pulock being able to return the lineup — mercifully bumping the sagging 39-year-old Marek Zidlicky — which should help the Isles’ turnover problems and help out with a big shot on the power play.
“We’ll see his status,” Capuano said about Pulock on a Sunday conference call. “He’s definitely one of the guys the guys I thought played well before the injury.”
Also likely practicing will be forward Josh Bailey, out since he was hurt in Game 6 against Florida. Bailey stayed in New York this past week, and skated with the call-ups from AHL Bridgeport on Sunday.
“We’ll see how he feels after,” Capuano said, “and then moving into [Monday’s] practice.”
It’s also likely that regular starting goalie Jaroslav Halak will practice fully with the team as he continues to recover from the groin injury he suffered March 8. Halak has been skating in light practices, and even got a day off on Sunday.
“I don’t want to speculate where he’s at, because truthfully, I don’t know,” Capuano said.
The word “reluctant” came up from Capuano in discussing his power play and its members’ unwillingness to get to the front of the net and shoot pucks against the aggressive Lightning penalty kill.
“Special teams goes up and down all year,” Capuano said. “For us, we prepared well for their pressure. Sometimes it’s the mindset. I don’t know why we were reluctant.”
Coming up from Bridgeport as the “black aces” group were goalie Christopher Gibson; defenseman Scott Mayfield; and forwards Bracken Kearns, Marc-Andre Cliche, Michael Dal Colle and Justin Florek.
Dal Colle was the team’s first-round pick (No. 5 overall) in the 2014 draft, and just joined the Sound Tigers on April 13 after finishing his final season in the OHL. Yet any chance the talented 19-year-old could actually play this postseason was pretty much shot down by Capuano.
“We have some veteran guys,” Capuano said. “I don’t really know Michael’s status. … I’m going to spend a little time with the coaches from Bridgeport, see how they evaluated him and where they see him going forward.”