New York Islanders Pregame Availability | NYI vs VGK
played with Ler from time to time before. How do you think you two mesh and you know, what are you looking forward to? I think we mesh great. I think he’s fast. He’s a righty. Um, and he’s smart. So, very easy guy to play with. With faceoffs, usually when you have two centers on the line, one’s righty, one’s a lefty. Like, how do you two figure out, you know, who’s where are you more comfortable? Right. Well, you know, career-wise, I’m obviously a lot better in the circle than Pager, so I’ll uh you know, I’ll let him take the wing. I I’ll be in the do most tonight cuz you know, when it comes to me and him, I’m the obvious choice to take face off. Um just overall for the team, you know, this has got to be a good day getting a guy like Pedro back, you know, what what does it do for them? I mean, aside from Pedro being, you know, such a versatile player for us on the ice and bringing so much to the PK, bringing so much to five on five, he’s also just a one of our, you know, main characters in the locker room every day. I mean, um, he’s always involved and he’s he’s a big boys in the room and, you know, he he plays inspiring hockey and, uh, yeah, we’re pumped to have him back. Ilia got some league recognition yesterday. I mean, you guys see it every day, but what else is there to say about the kind of role I has been on right now? He’s been great. Um, you know, first off, both our goalies have been great, but the last little while, I mean, Ilia has just been he’s been Ilia. I mean, he’s uh it’s it’s unfortunate sometimes that the expectations for him are so high and sometimes when he goes on a run like this, it’s just Ilia being Ilia, but in reality, I mean, that when he is playing like that, he’s the best goalender in the world. So, we’re lucky to have him on the ice and and off the ice and when he’s playing like that, we’re always in the game. He doesn’t seem to be too fussed by, you know, tying the shutout record, getting league recognition, but do you guys kind of have to be happy for him when he gets this kind of recognition because he’s so non plus about it? That’s Ilia. I mean, just how he is. He’s even kill at all times. Um, great game, okay game, win, loss. I mean, Ilia’s Ilia. So, I mean, that kind of demeanor, especially in the net, I think is is crucial for a guy over a long long period of time, a long long career. And I think even for us, just having a guy that’s so calm and in net is, you know, a relaxing feeling for the boys and knowing he’s got everything under control. So, it’s just who he is, man. We’ll we’ll, you know, give him stick taps and pat him on the back, but he he doesn’t doesn’t change, you know, his day-to-day routine, I guess. First, just for you. How are you feeling uh back in tonight? Yeah. No, I’m I’m excited um to join the group. It’s never fun uh to be on the sideline and watching your your teammates battling. Uh they’ve been playing some super good hockey and uh uh I feel extremely excited to to join the group and be able to come go back to battle with them. We saw you taking line rushes with Barzy and Andrew Lee today. Just, you know, what do you make of that trio here with those guys tonight? Yeah. No, it’s a it’s a great opportunity uh you know, to be back and play with them. Obviously, Enders I’ve had a chance to play a lot with and Barzi last year a little bit. So, we’ll uh it’s always fun when you have two centermans you can share some uh some work in the defensive zone and uh you know cheat a little more on faceoffs. You have two centers and um it’s obviously exciting, you know, play with Barzi, a guy that, you know, controls the puck and sees the the ice so well. is the kind of player you want him to have the puck and try to get open and with Enders, you know, around the net, it’s uh and behind and he’s always winning his battles on the wall and competing. Uh so just to have the opportunity um to play with them tonight will be I’m super excited. I guess for you, you know, you don’t want to be out of the lineup, but when you are out, you get to watch the team from a different perspective. Just what have you seen from the group over these past eight games? Yeah, they I mean schedule’s been extremely hard for for for the boys and uh the compete level, the the battle level, the sacrifice. Uh I thought the team played as a you know unit of one. They they battled every night and they were able to to grab some big wins and uh um I couldn’t be more happy. When you’re out, you want the boys to win and uh to keep climbing the standing and uh now I’m happy to be back and and part of it. You guys have already seen Vegas once this year. Uh just what do you take away from that game specifically and how do you apply it to tonight? Yeah, an extremely uh talented team. There’s a lot of talent and they they have a good system. They work hard. So uh obviously we’ll need to uh to be at the top of our game and uh play a full 60 against them. The all the you know they put a lot of traffic around their net. So make sure you know our goalies get to see the pucks and uh try to stay disciplined. They have a good power play also. So that’s going to be part of our game plan I’m sure. Important is it to get Pio back into this lineup? No, it’s nice to have him back. He’s uh he’s an important player. I mean, he’s playing a huge role for us. I mean, so I’m excited to see him uh play today. There there there were you had lineup options as to how you could slot him back in. Why did you decide, you know, if he’s going to play with Barcel, why was that the best choice for you? uh because they played so well together last year and I really like the way the the Richie’s line playing with Anton and Simon and and I love how um uh Casey’s line has been playing. So I mean sometimes you just take advantage of of that opportunity and uh the fact that they play together last year and you know like you like you know we try different things and last year we tried that and I thought that was a great experience. If we look at the analytics, they they had a they had good good moment together. So, let’s give it a shot. What did you see from Simplicov these last couple of games? He played well. I mean, he he did a lot of good things. Um, right now, unfortunately, tonight he’s not going to play because the quality of play from some of the guys, but he did nothing wrong. Yeah. I mean, you you I’m I’m assuming you’re talking about how Gatcom’s played since he’s come in and and and also Mac, too, right? Oh my god. I mean, that line’s been like, wow. I mean, it’s it’s it’s fun to watch. I mean, Casey is is probably the motor of the line, but I mean, the other guys, I mean, I’ve I’ve playing so well with him, and then they bring some energy. I mean, they spend time in the ozone. They protects the puck. I mean, they come back in our zone. And I’ve I have so much trust in these guys. I mean, we we even match them, I mean, against their their good lines. and uh they’ve been responding really well to that challenge. When it comes to who takes what faceoff draw, is that more on Pon Barzal figuring on the ice or is that you know coaching? Absolutely. What what has Ciana brought to the organization? Well, it’s a service that that the team I I I think you know like um performance psychologist is very important in the game today. um and and I use it with Michael Jerv and and the team offer it to um to the players and this the organization basically. So I mean I think it’s important to to um to every team has a person like this and she’s been doing a really nice job. I mean, uh, we met at early in the season and and explained to her what was my philosophy, what was where I was going. And, um, I think she understands what I’m trying to do. And it’s it’s almost like a a you know a team effort.
Hear from Isles Head Coach Patrick Roy, JG Pageau and Mat Barzal ahead of tonight’s game vs the Vegas Golden Knights.
1 comment
Great to see Pagger back.