The Islanders played Barry Trotz hockey with him in attendance to defeat his Predators 2-0.
The Islanders played Barry Trotz hockey with him in attendance to defeat his Predators 2-0.
When Barry Trotz was behind the New York Islanders bench, they were a team that was a pain in the rear end to play against.
They would establish a forecheck, suffocate teams in the neutral zone and if you got over their blue line, you weren't going to get many grade-A chances.
If you entered the third period trailing Trotz's team, you were in deep, deep trouble.
Since Trotz was relieved of his duties after the Islanders failed to make the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Islanders have very rarely played the Trotz brand of hockey.
The keen attention to detail wasn't there, and neither was the lock-down defense.
The Islanders were in a fight for their playoff lives just two weeks ago because of their failures to hold down leads far too often this season, especially in the early goings.
But with Trotz back in the building, his first time back on Long Island, the Islanders put together a Barry-esque performance.
Outside of getting strong goaltending from Semyon Varlamov, who turned aside 41 saves for the 2-0 win over the Nashville Predators, the club blocked 33 shots.
They were relentless defensively, showing support for one another in all three zones, killed off back-to-back penalties in the third period, honoring Trotz and what he taught them when he walked in the doors back in the summer of 2018.
“From the start of the game, we had everyone buying into what we needed to do to be successful,” Casey Cizikas said. “That's a good hockey team over there. They've had a lot of success lately. For what we did out there, it's a lot to be proud of, a lot to learn from, and we just got to keep this thing going.”
After the game, Nashville Predators head coach Andrew Brunette was asked if he thought it was ironic that the Islanders played the Trotz way with him in the building.
"," the first-year Predators head coach said. "He'll never say it, but that's kind of his staple for a lot of his teams. They did a great job around their net tonight."