Simon Holmstrom went the first 54 games of his career without taking a penalty.
But even Holmstrom has fallen victim to the morass of untimely infractions that is so dearly costing the Islanders this season.
It’s not just the 68 penalties the Islanders have taken, which is in fact below league average, or their terrible 70.59 percent penalty-kill rate.
It’s that they’ve negated their own power play nine times this season with a penalty, one of the more costly instances of which occurred when Mat Barzal hooked Kevin Bahl on Tuesday night.
That turned a five-on-four into four-on-four, and was shortly followed by Holmstrom tripping Jack Hughes, putting the Islanders down to four-on-three — where they promptly allowed a game-tying goal.
“It’s not for lack of effort, necessarily, on those penalties,” coach Lane Lambert told reporters after Wednesday’s practice in Raleigh, N.C. “Guys are trying to do the right thing. But we have to get control of our sticks. You can’t get them tangled up in feet, it has to be stick on puck.”
Even defending against a dynamic player like Hughes is not much of an excuse to commit a penalty at four-on-four, Lambert said.
“It becomes a little more difficult, but that’s where you have to be careful, especially at four-on-four,” Lambert said. “It’s too hard to kill off penalties four-on-three in this league. Too much talent and too much time and space out on the ice for that. So four-on-four is an absolute crime.”
Anders Lee will play his 700th NHL game on Thursday night.
“It’s still mind-boggling a little bit, you play hockey this long and to be able to play this long in the league is really special,” Lee told reporters following Wednesday’s practice. ”Not taking anything for granted and just enjoying it, trying to make the most of it.
“So, cool to hit the number for sure. Just another game in our season here that we gotta look forward to getting two points.”
Despite being activated off injured reserve, Matt Martin was completely healthy on Tuesday in New Jersey, Lambert said.
His activation was precautionary because Cal Clutterbuck and Holmstrom were both sick, so the Islanders wanted to make sure they could have him ready to slot in.
Martin is “getting close” to recovery from his upper-body injury, per Lambert, but ended up sitting against the Devils because Clutterbuck and Holmstrom both recovered.
There was no update on Sebastian Aho’s status on Wednesday.
The defenseman is nearing eligibility to come off injured reserve, but without the Islanders giving a timeline, that does not seem likely in the near future.