Islanders Utilize Extra Day Between Games During Physical Series

Beards and battle scars are the two hallmarks of playoff hockey and there are plenty of both on the faces of the New York Islanders.
There's the welt/cut on the right side of Mathew Barzal's face, a souvenir from a high stick in Game Four. Scott Mayfield still has a nick on his face from a Jordan Martinook high stick at the end of Game Two.

Astute fans may have noticed Zach Parise missing a pair of teeth during his media availability on Saturday afternoon. He lost those just seconds after Martin Necas was dumped into the bench by Jean-Gabriel Pageau in Game Three, albeit in an unrelated incident. Fortunately for Parise, the teeth that were knocked out were already artificial ones, since he lost the real ones some time ago. Unfortunately, getting them replaced meant a trip to the dentist during the off day on Wednesday.
"It's the way it always goes, you don't get to this time of the year with a clean bill of health," Parise said.
The Islanders will face off against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Six of their First Round series on Friday night at UBS Arena, with the Isles again fighting to keep their season alive after a gutsy win in Game Five. A pair of Suga concerts at UBS arena offered a rare two-day break between Games Five and Six and a chance for both teams to recharge and nurse some bumps and bruises.

"It's nice to have a day yesterday where you can just get away from everything for a minute and take a breath and let the body recoup," Barzal said. "It's been so intense for eight or nine days now, it's nice to have that day. Today was pretty intense at the rink and we're right back at it."
The Hurricanes are also banged up, most recently with their Sebastian Aho taking a Pierre Engvall puck to the face on Tuesday night. The Canes lost Teuvo Teravainen to a broken hand in Game Two and Jack Drury hasn't played since exiting Game Four. Drury has been skating with the team, but won't make the trip to Long Island for Game Six. The Islanders were 12-9-4 while the Hurricanes were 14-7-2 with two-or-more days rest during the regular season.
"It's big, but it goes both ways," said Mayfield said. "Rest is important but for us, it's just focusing on the next game."
The battle wounds are indicative of how hard-fought the Islanders series has been with the Hurricanes. The Islanders have outhit the Hurricanes 206 to 164. The Isles also blocked 22 shots in their Game Five win and 93 overall in the series.
"The extra day, not only physically, but mentally it's important for everyone," Parise said. "It's been a tough series, there's just not a lot of offense out there on either side, so mentally that can be hard. At this point of the series a day away from the rink is important."

The play that may have summed up the series to this point came at the end of Game Five, when Mayfield had the puck pinned for over 30 seconds against the boards while the Isles were killing a late penalty. A scrum of Islanders and Hurricanes were poking and kicking at the puck trying to dislodge it, while Mayfield held firm. The play eventually finished with Carolina's Aho high-sticking Bo Horvat.
"I feel physical in the corners, I feel strong. That's kind of where I like to play. So for me, you know, it's just kind of part of it," Mayfield said. "It probably seems a little bit longer than it actually is [in the corners]. A lot of energy going into kind of nothing, but it just worked out."
The two-day break also allowed the Islanders a rare chance to practice during the playoffs, something Head Coach Lane Lambert said should only be done with real purpose given the demands of the postseason. After Wednesday's day off, the Islanders had a spirited session on Thursday and now the focus shifts to evening the series on Friday night.
"You don't get it too often in the playoffs," Kyle Palmieri said of a practice day. "At this point in the series, you get some time to kind of reset and refocus and obviously we can make adjustments and get out there and work on it in practice, which is a unique opportunity with two days off. We're just looking forward to getting off to a good start tomorrow night."

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