CHICAGO — The Islanders' lineup will look different Sunday.
It might be a little closer to what they envisioned in training camp.
Adam Pelech, who has missed the past six weeks with a jaw injury, will return against the Blackhawks, coach Patrick Roy confirmed after Saturday's practice.
Matt Barzal, who missed the same amount of time with an upper-body injury, will also likely play in Chicago, but it's officially called a game-time decision.
And while Anthony Duclair (groin question) won't be back Sunday, he did travel — which suggests he could at least be back in Carolina on Tuesday night.
“Think about all those players, those players and what they mean. I think they're going to make us a better team,” Brock Nelson said. “It's certainly encouraging to see them back skating and traveling with us. It makes everyone here better as a team. Those players It’s a huge thing to get back.”
On Saturday, the deck was cleared for Barzal to come off LTIR after Pierre Envall and Oliver Wahlstrom went off waivers, and the Bruins claimed Wahlstrom.
However, more operations are required to activate Duclair when needed.
While the news was good, Saturday wasn't all rosy for the Islanders.
Bo Horvat, who missed the final 9 minutes and 49 seconds of Thursday's win over the Blackhawks, missed Saturday's practice and was called up for the day with a lower-body injury. He will go on the road, a good sign that this is only a short-term problem, but Roy did not commit to playing in the return match against Chicago.
So after spending six weeks with only a third of their opening-day top line, the Islanders could play with a different percentage of their top line on Sunday.
And Semyon Varlamov, who has a lower-body injury, will not participate in the trip. That means Marcus Hogberg will continue to back up Ilya Sorokin.
There is no complete return to full health. But things are moving in the right direction for a club that has released a number of players for most of the season.
“They've done a tremendous job while they've been gone,” Roy said. “.500 hockey, would I sign up for this when an injury happened?” Not necessarily, but at the same time I respect that.
“And with them slowly coming back, Perry coming back, Barzee coming back, Anthony maybe coming back into the game, I think that's good for us. They're very lifelong.” They played hard. Having them get a chance to come back will give us a little bit of the swing we need to get to the next level.”
In Saturday's practice, Barzal centered his top line between Duclair and Anders Lee, with Brock Nelson slotting in between Max Tsyplakov and Kyle Palmieri. Jean-Gabriel Pageau sat between Kyle MacLean and Simon Holmstrom, while Casey Cizikas was in the fourth row with Matt Martin and Hudson Fassing.
Defensively, Pelech skated with Ryan Purok, Alexander Romanov with Noah Dobson, and Dennis Cholowski with Scott Mayfield. Isiah George and Grant Hutton were the fourth pair.
It's unclear how much of that will carry over into Sunday, as Horvat's status is up in the air.
It's also unclear whether Cholowski and Isaiah George will ultimately play next to Mayfield, with Roy planning for the team to rotate the two for now rather than move George back to the AHL. states.
“Of course, Lou will definitely play, even if he doesn't play for a while.” [Lamoriello’s] I want to do something about it,” Roy said. “Let's see what happens. It's hard to make changes every time we win a game, so we'll go from there before making a final decision.”
