It wasn’t just what Mathew Barzal did on Thursday night in his first regular-season game after surgery to fix a season-ending kneecap issue last year: skate as if he hadn’t missed a beat, drive play, pick up an assist.

It was what he didn’t do in the Islanders season opener that made this just as notable.

Not once did he circle around the offensive zone with the puck on his stick, waiting in vain for someone to come open as the play died out — a sight that’s become emblematic of both Barzal’s precipitous talent and the way it often goes to waste. And he did not, at least at five-on-five, take a single shift with Bo Horvat, even when the Islanders were chasing an eventual 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh late in regulation.

Coach Patrick Roy and the Islanders might be just as committed to keepin

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