Islanders Practice: No Barzal, Power-Play Changes

The New York Islanders, without Mathew Barzal, were back on the practice sheet Tuesday as they worked on their power play, amongst other things.

After an off day on Monday, the New York Islanders hit the practice ice with a few days off before they welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning to town. 

The Islanders have 87 points with four games remaining, while the Pittsburgh Penguins have 86 with five games left, and the Florida Panthers have 85 points with five games to go.

If Pittsburgh and Florida win out, the Islanders will miss the playoffs, even if they win out themselves.

Let's get the Mathew Barzal news out of the way first. 

Although he wasn't on the ice for practice, the Islanders shared that he skated Tuesday morning and has been skating since this weekend. 

Barzal has missed the last 18 games for New York, and time's ticking with just four regular season games left to play. 

Defenseman Alexander Romanov (day-to-day, upper-body) did not skate with the team either. He was injured Saturday night against Tampa and did not play Sunday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. 

Here's how the Islanders lined up:

Anders Lee-Bo Horvat-Simon Holmstrom
Pierre Engvall-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Extras: Josh Bailey, Ross Johnston

Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho-Scott Mayfield
Samuel Bolduc/Parker Wotherspoon-Noah Dobson

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

As for the power play, which is 0 for their last 11 and sits at just 16 percent on the season, the Islanders decided to make some changes.

PP: (Net-Bumper-RW-LW-QB)

PP1: Lee-Pageau-Horvat-Pulock-Bolduc/Aho 

PP2:  Parise-Palmieri-Engvall-Nelson-Dobson

The Islanders practiced the power play before the official start of the skate and then again to close things out. 

"All the guys in the room that are on the units have the ability to be good players on the power play," Noah Dobson told The Hockey News. "We just need to go out there and execute."

As for the break here, it's something this team did not get a year ago in the second half. 

"It's huge," Islanders captain Anders Lee told The Hockey News. "I mean, geez, you can't control the schedule. So when it's offered to you like this, you have an opportunity to rest and an opportunity to have a couple of workdays and get ready for Thursday."