Shaking Off The Rust - - In Fast Forward

The Islanders need their best players to be at their best as soon as possible.

It was a great step for the New York Islanders to welcome back Mathew Barzal and Adam Pelech against the Chicago Blackhawks.

After missing 21 games and 20, respectively, rust was completely expected from the two.

While Pelech didn’t play as much as he normally would in full form, playing x minutes — that was good for fourth-most amongst the defense — Barzal played the most minutes out of any forward (20:45).

And, while he nor Pelech can be blamed for a disastrous 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on a final-minute goal from superstar Connor Bedard, Barzal struggled early in this game.

His first handful of passes in the offensive zone were completely off thier marks, which ended strong offensive zone shifts prematurely.

As the game continued, Barzal got better, but, as Patrick Roy put it postgame, “He kept things simple out there.”

Barzal makes $9.15 million because his game is anything but simple. However, given the amount of time he missed, this is understandable.

It obviously wasn’t that planned for Barzal to come back and Bo Horvat to go out, as the 29-year-old centerman who made the trip is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

But, the hope was that Barzal and Pelech’s return could have the stalled ship going full speed ahead.

Instead, the ship continued on its shaky course, making zero headway, losing 5-3 to Chicago.