CHICAGO — Mat Barzal looked like Christmas had come early, though if that was the case, he ended up with coal in his stocking.
After six weeks of waiting and watching, Barzal and Adam Pelech made their returns from injury in Sunday’s 5-3 loss to the Blackhawks, rejoining an Islanders team that suddenly looks in position to make up ground in an Eastern Conference wild-card race where no one has been anything approaching dominant.
“The guys did a heck of a job the last six weeks,” Barzal said pregame. “Every game was inspiring. Watching how much compete they were playing with, every guy stepped up. I’m just looking to jump back in and feed off that. Just roll with these guys.”
Islanders forward Mat Barzal is pictured during the Islanders’ game on Oct. 12. NHLI via Getty Images
Despite that sunny assessment, the Islanders let a whole lot of games slip through their fingers when Barzal was gone, and they did so again in the first game he was back, with Connor Bedard scoring the game-winner for Chicago with under a minute to go.
But getting two of the four players who have been out for the last six weeks back — and Anthony Duclair looks likely to return soon — might be good enough news to blunt the gut-punch loss.
“It was great,” said Anders Lee, who skated on a line with Barzal and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. “We moved the puck really well, supported each other really well. I thought our line had some good puck movement, good support.”
Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech, pictured earlier this season, returned to the Islanders’ lineup Sunday. APBarzal and Pelech skated for 20:45 and 19:47, respectively, with Barzal possessing the puck as much as ever.
It appeared to take him some time to get comfortable, though, as he made a handful of bad passes early on.
Barzal skated on his own for two weeks before rejoining the team for morning skate Thursday.
With Pelech, Duclair and Mike Reilly also injured, the foursome spent significant time together in their respective rehab processes.
“That was the one thing that kept us all going,” Barzal said. “My mom flew down, spent a little time with her. Just finding little things to do. Playing some chess, little bit of reading, but there’s really nothing I could do. Long days at the rink. Long workouts.”
Pelech, who hurt his jaw after taking a puck to the face six weeks ago in Buffalo, played Sunday with what he described as a “jaw visor” — short of a full face shield.
He’s unsure how long it will be until that’s removed.
Bo Horvat (lower body) did not play, but traveled with the team and is day-to-day.
Pierre Engvall was back with the Islanders after being waived Friday and was still in the lineup.
Isaiah George sat as a healthy scratch, with Dennis Cholowski getting the nod as the sixth defenseman.
