Islanders forward Mathew Barzal skates during an NHL summer training camp session at Northwell Health Ice Center on Thursday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Things got a lot more real for the Islanders on Sunday.
They set their post-regular season roster and traveled, along with the 23 other teams participating in the NHL’s return to play, to their hub city. A season placed on pause on March 12 because of the COVID-19 pandemic will resume by the end of the week.
“I feel like we’ve been talking about it and going over the process for the last three, four months now,” Mathew Barzal said before the Islanders departed for their quarantined arena/hotel bubble in Toronto.