The moments were brief.
Glimpses. Flickers.
There was Mathew Barzal, a few strides inside the blue line with the puck on his stick, and Adam Pelech trailing. Suddenly, Barzal spun 180 degrees and dropped a pass for his longtime teammate at the far boards. Pelech skated to the top of the right circle and fired a shot into Marcus Hogberg’s midsection.
A few minutes later, Barzal corralled a loose puck above the circles in the offensive zone and darted left and right before whipping a backhander off the top of the crossbar that Kyle Palmieri eventually poked past Hogberg.
Though it could be said that these instances in a two-period scrimmage on the second day of training camp were mere flares, they represented something significant for Barzal and the Islanders.
“It felt good,” Barzal sai