Isles Day to Day: Cleared to Resume, Practice Before Game vs San Jose

After having their schedule postponed on Nov. 27 due to a continued COVID-19 outbreak, the New York Islanders got back on the ice for their first practice at Northwell Health Ice Center on Wednesday afternoon. The Islanders were also cleared to resume their schedule and the team's first game back will take place on Thursday night at UBS Arena against San Jose.

GETTING THE GROUP BACK TOGETHER

While Casey Cizikas was the Islanders' most recent player to be placed into COVID-19 protocol on Saturday, the team received a boost in welcoming back forwards Josh Bailey, Anders Lee, Ross Johnston and defensemen Adam Pelech and Andy Greene, who were all cleared.

Bailey was the first player to be placed into protocol back on Nov. 16 when the team was in Sunrise, Florida facing the Florida Panthers. After remaining in quarantine for 10 days in Florida and stating that he felt "asymptomatic," Bailey returned to Long Island and joined his team for morning skate last Friday morning ahead of the team's game against Pittsburgh on Nov. 26, though he did not suit up.
Lee and Johnston were subsequently placed in protocols on Nov. 19, while Pelech and Greene were added on Nov. 20. All five skaters will be available for the Islanders' game against San Jose tomorrow night and will have the chance make their debuts in the team's brand-new home at UBS Arena.
"Whether you're going through a tough time or a really good time, you want to be involved in it with your teammates." Bailey said following Wednesday's practice. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. It's an exciting time for all of us guys that haven't played in the new arena yet.
"We've had a couple of days here to reset," Bailey continued. "We had good energy out there today. We'll try to bring that into the game tomorrow night and play the way we know we can and the way we need to to have success."

ONE GAME AT A TIME

Islanders' Head Coach Trotz confirmed following Wednesday's practice that four of the five players; Bailey, Lee, Johnston, Greene and Pelech, who are cleared from COVID-19 protocols, are "going to have to play for the most part," in Thursday's lineup.
While it's a daunting task to return to the lineup following consecutive days without any game or practice action, let alone with the eight-game slump the Islanders are currently embroiled in. However, it's one that the veteran group of Bailey, Lee, Johnston, Greene and Pelech are approaching with a positive and focused mentality.
"We're just looking to build off day by day," Lee said. "There's a lot of confidence in our group in who we are and who we should be on the ice. It's evident that we haven't been the same to where we want to be. We're going to take it day by day, game by game and not get ahead of ourselves. [We're] looking forward to this challenge. It's going to be difficult to get out of, but it's not insurmountable or anything like that. There's a lot of hockey left to be played and our best hockey is in front of us."

DIGGING IN

Furthering on the challenge of reintegrating a lineup that has been continuously altered and tweaked over the last two weeks, the Islanders will also have to elevate their play in order to collect valuable points in the standings, where they currently sit in eighth place in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-10-2 record.
"It makes you dig in, if you have any backbone you're going to dig in," Trotz said. "And this group has backbone, so I'm expecting them to dig in. You find out a lot about people when the heat's on, when the pressure is on. We've done that, you've seen great things in the last couple of years in the playoffs. That's where the real pressure is, is in the playoffs… Just getting to the playoffs is going to be tough enough and then trying to do something in the playoffs. Well, we've dug ourselves a whole. I said that our playoffs are sort of now. We're not going to see the playoffs unless we're digging in now."

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