Barzal seals Isles roster spot with impressive goal

Rookie Tallies Again in Islanders’ 3-0 Victory over Devils at Barclays

September 26, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Mathew Barzal’s dazzling goal Monday night at Downtown’s Barclays Center all but secured an Opening Night roster spot for the 20-year-old rookie. AP Photo by Kathy Willens

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If you listened closely to what Islanders head coach Doug Weight had to say about rookie Mathew Barzal before Monday night’s 3-0 exhibition victory over New Jersey at Downtown’s Barclays Center, you’d think the 20-year-old center had already wrapped up a spot on the team’s Opening Night roster.

“He did have two good camps [in 2015 and 2016], and forced himself to stick around, but he tailed off a bit in both of those and I’ve seen none of that [this year],” Weight said Monday morning.

“He was dynamic with the puck in both of those, we’ve seen more of that this year.”

But Barzal, as he has been doing throughout this preseason, left nothing to chance in his pursuit of not only breaking camp with the team, as he did a year ago, but sticking around for the long haul.

The Islanders’ first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft scored his third goal of this exhibition campaign, picking up a feed from team captain John Tavares in his own end, skating by several defenders down the left side of the ice and unleashing a perfect right-handed wrister past sprawling Devils goalie Keith Kincaid.

The first-period power-play tally gave New York a 3-0 lead, and further cemented Barzal’s roster spot, as well as making a case that he should be playing alongside Tavares and new addition Jordan Eberle on the Isles’ man-advantage squad this year.

“I’m just trying to work hard and take advantage of the opportunity that they’re giving me right now,” said a humble, but determined Barzal.

“They’re putting me in some key situations, playing the power play, so just trying to make the most of it and do everything right.”

It would be hard to find anything wrong with the way Barzal has played since the Isles opened training camp and their preseason slate.

He scored the game-tying third-period goal in the preseason opener at Nassau Coliseum, added a power-play tally in last Wednesday’s split-squad game against Philadelphia and dazzled the 5,615 in attendance at Barclays Monday night with his blazing one-man rush down the ice.

This impressive preseason comes on the heels of Barzal’s dominance at the WHL level a season ago, when he accumulated 79 points in 41 games and grabbed postseason MVP honors by leading the Seattle Thunderbirds to the league title.

“I saw him in the playoffs and he was hard to play against, but not just because he had the puck,” Weight said.

“He was battling he was in good position, had good sticks and little things that you go from being a great talented kid to a great talented player. He’s taken steps.”

Those steps were in evidence last preseason when Barzal broke camp with the team, only to be sent down to Seattle after only two games with New York.

But what figures to be his last full season in the minors apparently aided Barzal in his play-making skills.

It also opened the eyes of Tavares, who has been waiting for the Isles’ abundance of young, talented players to bloom into NHL difference-makers.

“You can see it from the first day he was here a couple of years ago,” Tavares said after Monday’s win boosted New York’s preseason mark to 4-0-2.

“His skill set is his edges and his poise out there. He had some great wheels on his goal and certainly will be an asset for us going forward. You can see the enthusiasm and the creativity that he has.”

Isle Have Another: Weight will have to decide between goaltenders Thomas Greiss and veteran Jaroslav Halak for the Oct. 6 regular-season opener in Columbus, Ohio. Last year Greiss was anointed the starting goalie after Halak was sent to AHL Bridgeport just before New Year’s, but the team’s all-time single-season wins leader returned for the team’s late playoff push. Both goalies have been stellar between the pipes during the preseason. Greiss has stopped all but one of the 43 shots he has seen, including all 25 Monday night, while Halak is 56-of-57 on save opportunities. “Our goaltenders have led the charge in training camp,” Weight said. “I’m pretty excited about that part of the game.” … New York outshot New Jersey, 45-25, on Monday, dominating the pace and action throughout the contest, which featured a split-squad roster for the Devils. “Overall pretty good,” Tavares said of the team’s effort. “We drew a lot of penalties and had the puck for most of the night. We had some good looks.” … The Isles announced last Friday that they have inked 2016 first-round pick Kieffer Bellows, a 19-year-old left winger, to a three-year entry-level deal, and will send him to Portland of the WHL for the 2017-18 season. Bellows played at Boston College last year as a freshman and helped Team USA win the gold medal at the Under-20 World Championships in Montreal, scoring twice in the championship game against Team Canada.