The Islanders’ long injury nightmare is almost over.
It was not one, not two but all three of Mat Barzal, Anthony Duclair and Adam Pelech who joined the team for Thursday morning’s skate ahead of a match against the Blackhawks, with the latter two shedding the orange non-contact jerseys they had been wearing.
That is the best sign so far that the Islanders are getting close to being (almost) completely healthy for the first time since the fifth game of the season, when Duclair suffered an apparent groin injury against Montreal.
“It’s funny. Sometimes when those injuries happen you feel like they’ll never come back,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Now seeing them close to coming back, it’s a good feeling for everybody.”
Roy did not commit to a return date for any of the three, but described them all as day-to-day.
Pelech suffered what is believed to be a jaw injury when Jordan Greenway’s shot caught the defenseman in the face on Nov. 1, and skated Thursday with a full bubble helmet.
Barzal suffered an upper-body injury during a loss to the Blue Jackets the night prior, the nature of which was unclear.
As for the other injured players, defenseman Mike Reilly is out long-term after heart surgery when an issue was detected during routine testing following a concussion.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov has yet to start skating with a lower-body injury.
