The Islanders power play deployment is going to look different this season, without a clearly defined top unit.
Most would call that a 1A and 1B setup.
Coach Patrick Roy prefers to say he has “two As.” It comes to the same.
The offseason acquisitions of Maxim Tsyplakov and Anthony Duclair have allowed the Islanders to more evenly split their talent between two power play units, which Roy wants to see relatively equal ice time.
As of now, one unit is composed of Noah Dobson, Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat, Duclair and Tsyplakov; the other is made up of Mike Reilly, Brock Nelson, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri and Anders Lee.
“That’s what we did in Colorado with [Nathan] MacKinnon and [Matt] Duchene,” Roy said, referencing his time coaching the Avalanche from 2013-16. “They were splitting. Sometimes you’re gonna score, sometimes you’re not gonna score. But if your guys are fresh, you can keep the momentum by throwing them again and that’s what I’m looking to do.”
Last season, the Islanders power play operated at a 20.35 percent clip, slightly below league average, with the top unit of Dobson, Barzal, Horvat, Nelson and Palmieri getting a hair below 70 percent of ice.
The second unit — the composition of which changed throughout the season — never amounted to much, and would often come on for the last 20 or 30 seconds of a power play.
“Patty knows the game,” Barzal told The Post. “If my unit gets hot or Nellie’s unit gets hot, that’s gonna be the starting unit for however long that takes. It’s gonna come down to what power play’s going, good inter[team] competition. It gets everybody in the game.”
The Islanders scored a pair of power play goals in their 4-3 win over the Flyers Monday, though they did so while rarely looking crisp in their puck movement or entries at five-on-four.
On the ice from Long Island
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There is a ways to go here, even as the Islanders started special teams work earlier than is normal in training camp.
“I just didn’t like the fact that we didn’t have enough support,” Roy said. “We weren’t helping each other and making the right decision to throw the puck at the free area [or] transfer the puck or giving support on a situation where they’re close to us. And I think we need to be better in that area, because we have so much talent on those two units.”
Liam Foudy, Fredrik Karlstrom, Hudson Fasching (lower body) and Jakub Skarek practiced separately from the main group. There was no update on when Fasching will return to practicing with the NHLers.
Ryan Pulock (illness) and Ilya Sorokin (back surgery) didn’t practice.
Sorokin continues to skate on his own, but there was no further update on his status.
