Islanders vs. Avalanche: Low-stakes rematch [Game #53]
Just swinging by... | Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images
Zach Parise has always been a center. Last week in Denver, the Islanders hung with the eminently terrifying Avalanche before giving it up in the third period. Tonight they’ll get a chance to try again — not for any meaningful mistakes, mind you, but for the friends they made along the way.
By the looks of reports from the morning skate, ex-Av Semyon Varlamov will get the start, Anders Lee will be back in the lineup (but Zdeno Chara and Mathew Barzal remain out), and the lines may be...different:
Things I think I saw at #Isles morning skate (eyes turning 55 soon)Beauvillier-Nelson-BaileyBellows-Pageau-PalmieriLee-Parise-WahlstromMartin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck Pelech-Pulock Greene-DobsonAho-MayfieldSorokin in the starter’s net.— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) March 7, 2022
If those lines hold, then with Lee returning, Otto Koivula bumps back out of the lineup, and Zach Parise swings over to center again. Barry Trotz called Parise a “student of the game,” probably the Isles “most consistent” forward all season and — snark and scoring slumps aside — he’s not exactly wrong. Parise gives it his all out there and pays detailed attention to positioning within Trotz’s structure. The legs, hands and shot aren’t what they once were, but I imagine the previous traits make him a Trotz dream.
I bet he gets re-signed.
Anyway, game is at 7:30 p.m. EST. First Islanders Goal selections go here. Chat away and enjoy......
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