ELMONT, NY — After a grueling three-game road trip to Dallas, Nashville, and Minnesota, the New York Islanders returned to Long Island on Friday for a quick turnaround matinee against the elite Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
Understandably, the Islanders looked fatigued, which played a part — not the whole part — in their 4-0 loss.
Following the game, Islanders head coach Pete DeBoer acknowledged that his group looked like a team that needed a break.
“I think we looked a little fatigued tonight as a group, and I think when you’re fatigued, mentally you make some mistakes you don’t normally make, and physically you make some mistakes you don’t normally make,” DeBoer said. “We won some hard-fought games here recently. We played extra time in overtime on the road, and we looked like we were a fatigued team today.”
Now, the good news is that the Islanders finally get some much-needed time off, as they don’t play again until Thursday.
They won’t practice Sunday or Monday and will return to the ice on Tuesday.
“That’s the good news. We’ve got time here to reset,” DeBoer said. “We haven’t come up with a plan yet, but we’ll make sure we use that time properly.”
But even with the break, things won’t get much easier.
The Islanders host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday and the New Jersey Devils on Saturday before heading to California for a three-game road trip against San Jose, Anaheim, and Los Angeles.
That’s five games against teams that won’t make life easy for an Islanders group already dealing with its fair share of adversity.
This break couldn’t have come at a better time, and here’s why: