Isles Day-to-Day: Practice Updates Oct. 17

One day after a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers, the New York Islanders were back on the ice for practice at Northwell Health Ice Center.

Alexander Romanov (maintenance) was the lone Islander to not skate - and Head Coach Patrick Roy said he'd see how the defenseman was feeling ahead of Saturday's road game in Ottawa.

LINES

Jonathan Drouin - Bo Horvat - Emil Heineman
Anthony Duclair - Mathew Barzal - Kyle Palmieri
Anders Lee - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Max Shabanov
Kyle MacLean - Casey Cizikas - Simon Holmstrom
Marc Gatcomb - Max Tsyplakov

Adam Pelech - Ryan Pulock
Adam Boqvist - Tony DeAngelo
Matthew Schaefer - Scott Mayfield

Ilya Sorokin
David Rittich

SOROKIN TO START VS SENATORS

Roy confirmed that Ilya Sorokin will start on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators. Sorokin is 0-3-0 this season with 4.18 GAA and an .854 SV%. Lifetime, Sorokin is 4-0-1 against the Senators with a 1.97 GAA and an .942 SV%.

While Roy leaves the technical aspects to Goaltending Coach Piero Greco, the Hall of Fame netminder said he offered some experiences and advice to his goaltender.

"One save at a time," Roy said on his expectations for Sorokin. "Just build one save at a time. That's what I've been doing if I feel that wasn't playing my best hockey, I wouldn't try to go more than one save at a time."

HORVAT BREAKS DOWN HAT TRICK

Bo Horvat scored his second career hat trick on Friday night, scoring in three different ways; shorthanded, on power play and one into an empty net.

Two of the three were highlight reel goals, with Horvat going high blocker on a shorthanded breakaway to tie the score – and burying a one-timer from Mathew Barzal on a third period power play. New linemate Jonathan Drouin made sure Horvat completed the trick by passing on a true two-on-none, allowing Horvat the empty-net tap-in.

Horvat broke down both special teams goals on Friday, highlighting some of the subtleties that led to each tally.

Paging Pageau for Shorthanded Pass

Usually a shorthanded breakaway is the product of a well-placed pokecheck or pass interception at the blue line, or a shot block that sends play the other way, but that wasn’t the case on Thursday.

With JG Pageau heading to the half wall to clear a loose puck, presumably 200 feet, Horvat sensed an opportunity fly the zone and put himself in a position for a breakaway.

“The more I watched it, the more I couldn't believe the pass that JG made, especially all in one motion on his backhand to beat two guys like that and put it right on my tape,” Horvat said. “It's not an easy play by any means. And he made it look pretty easy.”

Of course, Pageau also needed to recognize the opportunity, so Horvat started hollering to get his teammates attention. Communication on the ice is key.

“He told me, if you don't yell, I'm not going to try that. I'm trying to get that 200 feet,” Horvat said. “As soon as I yelled and saw that I had some open ice, he hit me.”

Horvat on Barzal Pass, Bumper Position

Horvat’s second goal – his one-timer from the slot on the power play – was more typical for the Islanders center.

Horvat was in his usually bumper spot, in position to one-time a perfectly placed saucer pass from Mathew Barzal past Stuart Skinner.

“It was such an elite play by Barzy to be able to get that to me in such a tight window,” Horvat said. “I'm just trying to whack it and hope for the best. Thankfully it went in this time.”

It’s a prime scoring area, there’s a lot more that goes into playing the “bumper” spot on the power play. Timing is key. Horvat’s positioned in the middle of the Oilers penalty killers, so he doesn’t have much time or space to get his shot off and a one-timer is really the only play. That doesn’t mean Horvat can wait with his stick fully wound up, a la Alex Ovechkin from the left dot. Horvat barely wound up on Thursday’s winner, but it was still enough to get some zip on his shot.

“Being in the bumper spot, you don't want to be the big one-time bomb, like Ovechkin or the guys on the flanks that have a little bit more time to wind up,” Horvat said. “It’s got to be a quick little snapshot and thankfully, I got it off.”

Horvat’s well practiced in that area, and has scored goals from the bumper position with the Islanders and with Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship this past spring. Given that Barzal plays on the left half wall and can throw the puck to Horvat’s forehand, it’s a play the duo looks to execute.

“He's got such a wide space I can throw it into,” Barzal said. “He kind of uses a shorter stick, and he's got such a good release, so I just try to get into an area for him. He's had a few looks now in that spot. He's usually timely, so it was a big one last night.”