The New York Islanders power play only has four more days before its showtime. Deceptiveness is the name of the game, and the Islanders are practicing that heavily.

The New York Islanders power play only has four more days before its showtime. 

Operating at 15.8 percent during the 2022-23 regular season with just one goal on 18 tries in the playoffs, the man advantage must be a weapon if this Islanders group wants to be a true Stanley Cup contender. 

The Islanders' top unit should be significantly better with Mathew Barzal back fully healthy and a full year of Bo Horvat. 

The focus at practice on Tuesday seemed to be working on that deception, as showing their cards to the penalty killers was occurring way too often. 

Here were the Islanders power-play lines at practice:

The Hockey News caught up with three players from the top power-play unit to get their takes on what they are seeing from their position and how the deception impacts their in-the-moment decision-making. 

Noah Dobson, Point on Power Play 1

For the second year, 23-year-old Noah Dobson is manning the point on the Islanders top power-play unit. 

Dobson struggled his first go-around, especially when Mathew Barzal got hurt as he became the zone-entry man as well. While all the blame cannot go on Dobson for the Islanders' weak showings with the man advantage, the inability to break in impeded the power play's ability to set up and get to their game plan. 

Having Barzal back is something that gives Dobson more confidence, given what No. 13 can do out there. 

"Yeah, he's such a vital part, especially breaking the puck in, and he'd be one of the better guys in the league with the skating the puck into zones on the entry, which is important," Dobson said. "Also, he probably grabs attention, which opens up other guys. He's a big part of what we're doing on the power play, so it's nice to have him back fully healthy, and he looks great this year."

But even with Barzal back, Dobson's putting all the weight on his shoulder at the point. 

"It starts with me. Being on the top last year, I found, at times, I telegraphed a little too much, something I've worked on all summer," Dobson said. "You watch the top power plays and the top guys up top. It's a lot of deception, and it makes it hard for the [opposition's] forwards."

"So it's something we're trying to migrate into our game. I think it's gonna help. If I can add that and be more deceptive up there, it's gonna give more open shots for Barzy and Nelly on the flanks, which are really dangerous."

The speed of the NHL game, in all facets, continues to get faster and faster, which means decisions need to be made quicker and quicker. 

"It's got to be quick. A lot of it is scanning, scanning before we get the puck," Dobson said. "It's having your eyes up and taking a quick peek as the pucks coming that way. It's just bam-bam play, but it's all part of it. You got to make quick decisions up there, passes have to be on the tape. So, it's something I'm continuing to get better at. I feel like put a lot of work on that this summer, and I'm just going to continue to keep working on it."

Power-play deceitfulness only works if you don't trick your teammates. So, knowing tendencies becomes critical, especially between Dobson and Barzal. 

"You read it, but also, all of us have been together for a little bit now, where we are familiar with each other's tendencies," Dobson said. "When he has a puck, he's dynamic where he can find guys, so you just want to make sure you're available. And sometimes it's coming back right away, so you got to be ready as well. So I think it's just a balance of reading off one another and just kind of understanding what he wants to do."

Dobson recorded a career-high five power-play goals with 14 assists in 2022-23. 

Bo Horvat, Bumper on Power Play 1

Horvat came over from Vancouver as a weapon on the power play, with 11 power-play goals in 49 games with the Canucks. The hope was that his arrival would help the power play, but as mentioned, when Barzal went down, everything went down, including Horvat at five-on-five in terms of goals. 

Horvat has a crucial job on the power play, as the bumper position needs to be ready to catch the pass and, in the same motion, make a pass back to a teammate, find another teammate, or, as Horvat said, "rip it."

"My job really isn't to have the puck on my stick for long in the slot. If it's coming to me, I'm either gonna be an outlet or rip it," Horvat told THN. "So, whenever it comes into me, I just want to try to shoot the puck, and hopefully it goes in."

Regarding deceptiveness, Horvat said that getting that down pat early this season is critical. 

"We've definitely been working on [the deceptiveness] a lot," Horvat said. "So now, for us, getting those reps in practice and knowing where each other is going to be out there, it's going to be big for us here moving on, especially at the beginning of the season, to get familiar with everything."

As the man in the bumper, reading the plays from Dobson and Barzal across the board becomes paramount to his success. 

"I think it's just reading off each other. I mean, it's tough to know exactly what Barzal's going to do, but at the same time, I just have to watch out of the corner of my eye everywhere he's gonna be, so it's been challenging, but I mean, they are such good players, and I'm used to reading off people in the middle there."

Horvat scored one power-play goal with the Islanders with three power-play assists in 30 games last season. 

Kyle Palmieri, Net Front on Power Play 1

When healthy, there's not much Kyle Palmieri can't do for the Islanders. Yes, he is being paid handsomely to score goals, but his defensive awareness, mixed with his ability to create chaos in front of goal, makes him a worthy net-front player on the power play.

Although Palmieri's position seems basic from an outsider's point of view, he still needs to be reading the play and the decisiveness.

The slightest hesitation or stick move from a teammate will determine whether Palmieri needs to be ready for a deflection, move into position for a screen, or open up in an attempt to bury a rebound. 

"Decisions got to be quick because a lot of times you're gonna end up getting in the way," Palmieri said. "But yeah, you watch the guys that are successful at being at the net front. I think it's transformed a little bit, more so being in the right spot for a rebound. 

"For goalies, it's tough to hold on to those one-time rebounds and shots that are coming in and ping-ponging off defensemen and stuff like that. So it's really trying to put yourself in a position that you can be there for a second opportunity or recover a puck if the rebound goes somewhere else."

As for what Palmieri's plan is on a game-to-game basis, that depends on the opponent. 

"To be honest, it has a lot to do with the personnel," Palmieri said. "I mean, if I'm standing in front of Andrei Vasilevsky,  he's looking right over me anyway. So very rarely, especially with the number of tall goalies in the league, am I going to be towering over anybody in front. 

"So I think it's really just body positioning and being able to have a free stick and being able to recover and get those second opportunities."

With the sneakier plays, Palmieri knows he needs to quickly find a way to readjust mentally and physically but relies heavily on his chemistry.

"We want to be predictable to each other. We want to know our outs and kind of what each other are thinking," Palmieri told THN. "But at the same time, you don't want to be easy to scout, and you want to be able to interchange and make other teams not know what's going on. 

"It's hard to really replicate that, but I think it's something we want to work on, and a lot of times, it's just about getting a lot of reps and just different situations."

Palmieri scored three power-play goals in 55 games in 2022-23, with two power-play assists. 

Lambert's Thoughts

While John MacLean is the Islanders' power-play coach, head coach Lane Lambert said he would be more involved in the special team decision-making when we spoke with him at the Islanders' annual golf outing. 

The power play didn't convert often in the six preseason games, with two goals coming from players not on their current units. 

Here's what Lambert had to say about what he saw in preseason:

"I thought there were some good things in preseason. Maybe the last couple of games weren't as good as we wanted it to be,  but I thought today's power play went well," Lambert said. "I thought guys were moving the puck."

One change this season is that Islanders captain Anders Lee will not be on the top unit to start, with Palmieri in his place.

 We saw Jean-Gabriel Pagaeu go from the top unit to the second with the arrival of Horvat. 

Oliver Wahlstrom and Ryan Pulock have served in the left-wing trigger spot on both units, with Pulock also getting time as the second unit's quarterback. 

"I think there's competition between both units," Lambert said. "We've got people who can play on both units. And so we'll see what happens."