The Islanders’ Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech made up one of the NHL’s best defensive pairings last year. And soon, they could be together again.
“The plan is to put Pully and Pelly back together,” coach Barry Trotz said before the Islanders played host to the Bruins on Thursday night. “What you’ll probably see is snippets of that the next little while and maybe some full-time stuff on the road trip [next week] here.”
What’s keeping the Islanders from reuniting the two sooner is getting Pulock up to speed following his return from a lower-body injury. Pelech is averaging 21:16 of ice time per game. Pulock has reached the 20-minute mark just once since his return and plays on the second power-play unit as well as at even strength.
Trotz said that for a player who’s out a month, it usually takes 10 or 12 games to get back up to speed. Pulock missed three months before returning on Feb. 1 against the Senators. He has been playing on the third pair, initially with Andy Greene, then with Sebastian Aho against the Sabres on Tuesday.
The Islanders struggled defensively on their just-completed road trip, giving up three or more goals in every game and going 1-3 in a swing through Western Canada and Buffalo.
“You can always find little areas in your D-zone that you’ve gotta improve on and sometimes they can be so minor and it makes such a difference,” Pulock said. “We’re definitely looking at that and I think from a defense standpoint, we understand that we need to be harder and eliminate bodies in front. And give our goalie a chance to see the puck and clear rebounds and don’t give us second opportunities.
“I think that’s what’s made us successful in the past and I think that’s something that we can focus on to help us a little bit going forward.”
Pulock said the Islanders are mad at how they’ve played lately, but confidence will come if they can start putting together wins.
“Once you can get on a streak you never know what can happen,” he said. “And we’ve done that before.”
Josh Bailey is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. … Semyon Varlamov will return to Long Island this weekend after testing positive for COVID-19 while the team was in Calgary.
UBS Arena lifted its mask mandate ahead of the game Thursday. Fans are also no longer required to show either proof of vaccination or a negative test to attend games.
Thursday was Trotz’s 250th game as Islanders head coach, making him the third coach in franchise history to reach that milestone.