Two of the uncertainties that followed the Islanders into training camp involved the version of Matias Maccelli they’d get — whether he could produce in the top six as some type of Anders Lee replacement — and whether they could revive their power play.
And in their second preseason game, against a lineup containing plenty of NHL regulars, both flashed some potential as Maccelli — who also skated on the left side of the Islanders’ second line in their 4-3 win over the Blueshirts at the Garden — collected two of their three goals with the man advantage. Maccelli started last season on the Maple Leafs’ top line alongside Auston Matthews, but he was also at one point a healthy scratch and finished with just 14 goals and 39 points.
“Obviously, that’s the goal, to play in that role,” Maccelli said of trying to carve out a top six role and run with it. “It was a good start for that [Tuesday], and try not to think about it too much and just come to the rink and do my job and play as good as I can.”
Maccelli’s first goal contained a fortunate bounce, as he flung a puck toward the net that bounced off Rangers defenseman Sean Durzi and went in. But for his second tally, he collected a generous rebound from Spencer Martin off a shot from Matthew Schaefer and deposited the puck into the net.
Maccelli acknowledged that it was just the preseason, but Tuesday’s goals still served as an encouraging sign that his one-year flier with the Islanders could end up being worth it.
“You need a certain amount of goals in this league in order to get in the playoffs, regardless of how well you defend,” Islanders head coach Pete DeBoer said. “You still have to put the puck in the net at a certain level in order to give yourself a chance to get in the playoffs. So I think our conversations were around ‘how do we add some goals to the lineup,’ and that included adding guys that could help our power play — and I think he checked both those boxes.
“He did what he’s supposed to do [Tuesday] in order to make a statement about where he fits on this team.”
And it could directly coincide with the emergence of a power-play unit that finished with the third-worst success rate in the NHL (16.5 percent) last season. DeBoer said the unit “felt dangerous” during their power-play chances — with Schaefer recording the other goal — but said he wanted to “temper our enthusiasm.”
“It’s one game,” DeBoer said. “We’re working on some things. If we go 0-for-4 tomorrow, the sky’s not falling, either.”
DeBoer said postgame — when asked about Schaefer — that the second-year superstar will be “a future captain of this team.”
“He’s one of those players at the end of my coaching career, I’m gonna sit on a deck somewhere and think about that I got a front-row seat to watch that guy play hockey, which is pretty special,” DeBoer said.
Defenseman Ethan Bear and goaltender Henrik Tikkanen were waived Tuesday for the purpose of assignment to AHL Hamilton. Cameron Berg, Cam Thiesing, Jesse Pulkkinen, Hunter Drew, Ryan Healey, Luke Rowe, Ryan Fanti, Brandon Scanlon, Jesse Nurmi, Joey Larson, Gleb Veremyev and Calle Odelius were all assigned to the Hammers, according to the team. … Kyle MacLean scored the first Islanders goal.
