Happy New Year! The Edmonton Oilers make their first visit to Belmont Park as the New York Islanders get to play their first game of 2022 before going on a 11-day gap due to a league-imposed postponement of the next four on the schedule.
Despite some remnant injuries (Ryan Pulock) and COVID Protocols (Brock Nelson) to key personnel, the team generally feels like it has been turning its “18-wheeler” in the right direction, and have points from eight of the last 10 games to show for it.
Mathew Barzal — who returned from COVID to have a first-star game — Kieffer Bellows, and Semyon Varlamov are among those who stepped up in Thursday’s win over the Sabres.