Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s injury return sparks Islanders lineup tweak

Forget Christmas. Jean-Gabriel Pageau was back well in time for Hanukkah. 

Pageau returned from an upper-body injury that kept him out for eight games on Tuesday, rejoining the Islanders to start a three-game homestand against the Golden Knights well ahead of his initial timeline. 

“It’s never fun to be on the sideline and watching your teammates battling,” Pageau told reporters before skating 18:58 in the 5-4 shootout win over the Knights. “They’ve been playing some super good hockey. I feel extremely excited to join the group and be able to go back to battle with them.” 

Pageau’s reentry into the fold prompted a minor lineup shake-up from Patrick Roy.

Pageau was slotted on the first line to the right of Mathew Barzal — it’s expected that Pageau will take almost all of the faceoffs — while Maxim Tsyplakov drew out as a healthy scratch.

Despite technically being on the wing, Pageau took the majority of the faceoffs, going in the dot 27 times while Barzal took just eight draws. 

“It’s always fun when you have two centermen. You can share some work in the defensive zone and cheat a little more on faceoffs,” Pageau said. “It’s obviously exciting to play with Barzy, a guy that controls the puck and sees the ice so well. It’s a player, you want him to have the puck and try to get open. 

“With Anders [Lee] around the net, and behind, he’s always winning his battles on the wall and competing. Just to have the opportunity to play with them tonight, I’m super excited.” 

The Islanders offense fell off dramatically over the eight games Pageau missed. They scored more than two goals just twice during that span, with Kyle Palmieri and Jonathan Drouin joining Pageau on the injured list along the way. 

---

---

Roy took issue with the first-period tripping call on Ilya Sorokin, on which Sorokin swept his stick across the crease attempting to play the puck and brought down Brett Howden. 

“I said [to the refs] I played 18 years, I did that a lot. It’s the first time I see a call,” Roy said. “But maybe I’m too old.” 

The other three lines stayed the same, with Roy not wanting to mess with the fourth line of Kyle MacLean, Casey Cizikas and Marc Gatcomb, which has performed well over the last three games. 

“[Tsyplakov] played well. He did a lot of good things,” Roy said. “Right now, unfortunately, tonight he’s not gonna play because of the quality of play from some of the guys, but he did nothing wrong.” 

---

Drouin (lower back) skated on his own with skills coach Troy Stevens before the Islanders got on the ice Tuesday morning. 

---

Ilya Sorokin started in net for the Islanders one day after being named the NHL’s First Star of the Week. 

---

Per team statistician Eric Hornick, the Islanders came into Tuesday 49 for their past 54 on the penalty kill for a 90.7 percent kill rate that is the best in the NHL since Oct. 30.