The first foe to threaten the Islanders’ drive for an 82-0 season are the Arizona Coyotes, who are in the middle of one of their “gotta get these in sometime, might as well be now” road trips.
The Coyotes started the season with a shootout win in Newark, then fell victim to a big Igor Shesterkin performance last night at MSG.
For the Islanders:
- Scott Mayfield missed Monday’s practice with swelling from a shot block. They reportedly have an optional morning skate, so probably don’t learn his status until game time.
- The Isles felt pretty good about their opening night performance, minus letting the Sabres back in the game. Post-game coverage focused on Brocktober kicking off again, and good opportunities for both of the top-six lines, though no points to show for the Barzal-Horvat-Holmstrom combo.
- Noah Dobson had a rough opener. Seems he blocked, then deleted his @_ND53 Twitter account — fans giving him too much grief? It being an unnecessary distraction regardless? Whatever the case, that’s not actually a story, but we do need Dobson at his best.
Lots of great trivia from Eric Hornick on opening night, including Brock Nelson’s sixth season-opening goal (one shy of Mike Bossy), and also “Adam Pelech’s assist on the winning goal was the 100th of his career…. It was the sixth time that the Isles opened their season against the Sabres.”