After falling 7-4 to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night, the New York Islanders went to work Wednesday afternoon.
EAST MEADOW, NY -- After falling 7-4 to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night, the New York Islanders went to work Wednesday afternoon.
Here were the lines:
Anders Lee - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal
Pierre Engvall - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri
Simon Holmstrom - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Oliver Wahlstrom
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck
Extras: Hudson Fasching, Julien Gauthier
Adam Pelech - Noah Dobson
Alexander Romanov - Ryan Pulock
Samuel Bolduc - Sebastian Aho
Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov
The focal point from Lane Lambert was the club's structure, which has been lacking the last few games. The talk is always about the structure in the defensive zone, and while that's where it may start, the Islanders need to shore up their structure in all three zones.
If the structure in the neutral zone is lacking, breaking into the offensive zone becomes rather challenging.
Following the structural drill, Lambert gathered his players together. While he and assistant coach John MacLean, the players spoke as well.
"Lane's a good communicator with what he wants and that kind of stuff," Islanders forward Mathew Barzal said. "We got a room full of veterans, who can also chime in here and there, so I think we have a good mix of that."
Islanders captain Anders Lee noted the importance of that chat.
"Yeah, we're just going over some of our structure, and it's an open table in here. We're all working toward the same goal, and guys have questions on certain things. It's good to speak up.
"There's no bad questions. We're clearing all like the gray area and some decisions on when the puck is, who's stepping in, who's not stepping, just little things, working out the kinks, and making adjustments.
"I think it's very productive."
The Hockey News asked Lambert about the chat.
"They're the guys out on the ice. They're the guys that are seeing it, and practices are the time to talk about whatever it is we want to talk about, to correct whatever we want to talk about, because in the games they're playing."