Isles Day to Day: Practice Updates Feb. 25

Patrick Roy debuted a new look for the New York Islanders during Sunday's practice at Northwell Health Ice, juggling all four of his forward lines.

The Islanders' coach moved Brock Nelson from center to left wing, putting the Isles' leading goal scorer on a line with Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal. The line played together in the third period of Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"They bring speed," Roy said of the new-look line. "I really liked the energy they brought in that third period, so it's very tempting to continue the experience."

Roy said he had no issue with having three centermen on a line together, citing Barzal's shift to right wing this season, as well as the team's center depth to fill in for Nelson down the middle. 

"A center can play wing," Roy said. "A winger can not play center. So it an advantage [to have center depth]."

While Nelson, Horvat and Barzal haven't played a lot of even strength time together - just 29:00 per Natural Stat Trick - they've played 150:49 together on the power play, so there's some familiarity between Isles three leading point getters among forwards.

"Brock's a really good player and I think we're just trying to get a spark here offensively," Horvat said of adding Nelson to his line. "Obviously, he brings that element to our line, so if we get the chance to play together tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to it."

JG Pageau centered Anders Lee and Kyle Palmieri in what Roy said should be a hard-nosed line for the Islanders. Lee and Palmieri are both effective in front of the net, and Pageau plays with a feistiness that exceeds his 5'11, 185 lbs. frame. 

"They are two really good players that work extremely hard, so I think that's going to be the identity of our line," Pageau said. "The system doesn't really change for us and our mentality."

Casey Cizikas centered Pierre Engvall and Simon Holmstrom during Sunday's practice, while Kyle MacLean was between Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck. Oliver Wahlstrom skated as an extra, which Roy said was due to positional needs, with the Isles needing a center with Nelson shifting to the wing. 

There were changes to the Islanders d-pairings as well, as Alexander Romanov and Ryan Pulock were a pair, as were Adam Pelech and Noah Dobson. Roy said he wanted to have a veteran with his younger blueliners and wanted a first-hand look at different pairings. 

As for Scott Mayfield (day-to-day, lower body), the defenseman missed Sunday morning's practice and will not accompany the team on their two game trip to Dallas and Detroit. Mayfield also missed Saturday afternoon's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.