Isles Day to Day: Isles Reset Mentally Ahead of Game 2

Starting on Saturday night, the New York Islanders had a whirlwind 48 hours.
They beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 in Game 7 to cap an emotional series, got on a plane on Sunday morning to fly to Edmonton and had about a day and change to prepare for Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a contest they lost 8-2.

On Tuesday, Head Coach Barry Trotz sensed that his team might be overloaded from a couple of high-stakes days, so instead of hitting the ice for practice, the Isles did an off-ice workout together, watched some video had a physical and mental reset.
"We tried to get a little mental break," Trotz said. "The last six days we've been going at it pretty hard, trying to finish off the Flyers, it took a lot of physical and mental preparation there and then a quick turnaround. We gave a lot of players a lot of information the last 48 hours. We went from an emotional high to an emotional low today. What you have to learn is that those are acceptable, those are part of the playoff process and what we do tomorrow is the only thing that really matters."

The Islanders refused to blame Monday's loss on travel, or getting acclimated to new surroundings in the Edmonton bubble. Instead they said they were going to flush Game 1 and focus on evening the series on Wednesday night.
"Today was about regrouping and trying to get a little bit of clarity in what we need to do," Trotz said. "A lot of stuff we did yesterday is fixable, but we'll have to have a much better and tighter game than we did."
Mat Barzal said the Isles stayed loose on Tuesday, stretching and playing sewerball in addition to the team workout. Barzal said the Isles were "sour" about Monday, but were in good spirits and optimistic about Game 2.
"I liked our attitude after the game last night, we knew it wasn't acceptable," Barzal said. "But at the same time it's a seven-game series and it's first to four. If we get tomorrow's game, it's a completely different series, so that was our immediate reaction."
"The mood today was good," Barzal added. "We're excited to get another crack at them tomorrow."

CLUTTERBUCK A "POSSIBILITY" FOR GAME 2

With no on-ice practice on Tuesday, Trotz did not have a definitive update on Cal Clutterbuck, who left Monday's game after taking a shot off the ankle, calling the forward a "possibility" for Game 2.
"Everything will be reassessed in the morning," Trotz said. "There's a possibility he'll be in."