Here's the latest from New York Islanders Friday practice with information on the club's two newest signings.
After a shootout win over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, the New York Islanders hit the practice ice Friday morning.
Defenseman Sebastian Aho (upper body), who did not travel to Washington missing his fifth straight game, was on the ice.
There was no sign of Mathew Barzal (lower body), who has yet to skate since Feb. 18, the date of his injury.
Islanders head coach Lane Lambert shared that there's no update on Barzal, but there's still hope he returns before the end of the season.
"He's working hard to get back. And right now, the focus is on the players that are in the lineup, as opposed to the players who are not in the lineup," Lambert said. "So he does, and he's doing whatever anybody else who gets injured does, is get ready and work hard, and hopefully, he'll be back."
A decision hasn't been made yet about Aho traveling.
"He had a pretty good practice today," Lambert said. "We're going to make that decision here after we're finished."
Here were the lines:
Zach Parise-Bo Horvat-Hudson Fasching
Pierre Engvall-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri
Anders Lee-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Simon Holmstrom
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Extras: Ross Johnston, Josh Bailey
Adam Pelech-Scott Mayfield
Alexander Romanov-Ryan Pulock
Samuel Bolduc-Noah Dobson
Extras: Parker Wotherspoon, Sebastian Aho
Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov
Our Stefen Rosner traveled to Tampa and was not on hand for the practice. Joe Pantorno of amNY provided the updates.
As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," as Islanders head coach Lane Lambert seems to be keeping his lines together for what would be a third straight game.
Bo Horvat has not scored a five-on-five goal in 13 games, but the hope is that Fasching and Parise can get him going.
Here's what Horvat said about playing with Fasching.
"It's been great. I mean, he does a lot of little things so well. His ability to get pucks to me on the fly and work in the corners, making those little plays and being really good defensively too...He plays well on both ends of the rink. So it's a treat to play with him."
The Islanders also announced that they signed two collegiate players.
Aidan Fulp, 23, and Travis Mitchell, 23, have agreed to terms on two-year, two-way (NHL/AHL) entry-level contracts beginning with the 2023-24 season.
Fulp, a six-foot-three, 209-pound defenseman, just finished his junior year at Western Michigan with two goals and 13 assists in 38 games. He attended the Pittsburgh Penguins development camp this past summer and is a finalist for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
Mitchell, also standing at six-foot-three defenseman at 201 pounds, just finished his senior year at Cornell University, donning the "C'.
He had six goals and 13 assists in 34 games.
Both signings cannot play for the organization until next season unless they sign amateur tryout contracts (ATO), which they haven't yet.
The Islanders battle the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night at 7 PM ET.