Isles Defensive Depth on Display

At the time of the NHL pause back in mid-March point, the Islanders blueline was nearly skeletal due to an influx of injuries that had sidelined Adam Pelech and Johnny Boychuk. Fast-forward almost five months, and the most puzzling component of finalizing the Isles' lineup for Game 1 of their Qualifying Series vs Florida is who the top-six defensemen will be.

With the decision still up in the air, Head Coach Barry Trotz opted to dress eight defensemen in the
Isles' 2-1 win against the Rangers
, taking advantage of an NHL rule that allowed each team to use 20 skaters. Trotz used the pairs of Pelech and Ryan Pulock, Devon Toews and Scott Mayfield, Nick Leddy and Boychuk and Andy Greene and Noah Dobson to help further evaluate his eventual decision without disrupting any of the regular partners.
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Notes: Isles 2, Rangers 1
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Highlights: NYI 2, NYR 1
Beau Opens Scoring
Varlamov Stacks The Pads
Postgame: Beauvillier & Greene
Postgame: Varlamov
Postgame: Trotz
"I really wanted to see [the defense] against some competition other than their own teammates," Trotz said post-game via Zoom. "We've got a real tough decision. It's a great problem organizationally to have going into the playoffs. It's a tough decision for the coach and the staff to separate them because they all bring a certain element to their game. They're all going to be contributing factors."
Each of the defensemen made the decision that much more challenging as the internal competition was evident. The Isles showcased their identity and preferred style of play by creating from the backend, as their blueliners all put forth sturdy performances and were determinants in the Isles' two goals of the game.
The Isles' first goal of the game and first goal in 141 days, was set up by a tremendous effort from Greene and Dobson.
From the Isles defensive end, Dobson made a shifty play to shake off a tracking Ranger forward and feed his d-partner behind the net. Greene looked up the ice and made a stellar cross-ice pass to jump Anthony Beauvillier for a 2-on-1. The Isles winger took his time before snapping his wrist-shot short side of Rangers' goalie Igor Shesterkin.
With four and a half minutes remaining in the third period, the Islanders doubled their lead 2-0. Toews fled the zone to pick up a cleared puck by Derick Brassard and wired in a wrist-shot past Henrik Lundqvist.
"With being off four and a half months and getting everyone healthy back there it's a battle and [there's] competition," Greene said. "We had a good couple of weeks of camp here. It was good to get the legs under us tonight, it's out of my hands at this point."

Wednesday was also the first game back in the lineup for Boychuk and Pelech, who each finished the season on the shelf.
Boychuk had missed the last three games of the Islanders' regular season after taking an errant skate to the eyelid - a cut that required 90 stitches - against Montreal on March 3. The veteran showed no hesitation in his first game back as he dropped the gloves early in the first period with Brendan Lemieux after finishing a clean hit on him.
Pelech had been sidelined since Dec. 31 after undergoing surgery for an Achilles' tendon injury sustained on Jan. 2. The 25-year-old left-shot averaged the second-most ice time among defensemen with a total of 15:22 and 1:52 spent on the power play.
"It means a lot to us to have him back. Adam is appreciated in our market of what he does," Trotz said. "You saw when he went down he left a pretty big whole in our lineup. Him coming back after a long layoff, working through that injury, rehabbing, he looked pretty seamless jumping in there. He made a couple of good reads, good exits, defended well on the PK. He looked pretty set for the playoffs which is a really good sign for us."
The game was also an opportunity for the Isles to tune up their special teams and utilize their defensive depth on both the power play and penalty kill. The Isles' two power-play units featured Pulock, Toews and Leddy, while the PK utilized Boychuk, Pelech, Mayfield and Greene. The power play went 0-for-5, while the PK was perfect 3-for-3.

In the coming days, the Isles will polish their systems in preparation of facing the Panthers. As they look to finalize a lineup, Trotz and his staff are keeping all options open, especially after witnessing the domination by the Isles defensive depth against the Rangers.
When asked post-game if he would potentially leverage his depth and opt for seven defensemen and 11 forwards to take on Florida in Game 1, he replied with no hesitation, "Yes, there is a chance."