The Islanders held their fifth scrimmage in the 10 days of practices so far at Training Camp 2.0 on Friday.
Not surprisingly, the players are anxious to face a real opponent.
“It’ll be nice to play someone else,” said captain Anders Lee, whose top line with center Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle again had a strong scrimmage.
The Islanders depart for their quarantined arena/hotel bubble in Toronto on Sunday. They face the Rangers in an exhibition game on Wednesday and open a best-of-five qualifying series against the Panthers on Aug. 1 at Scotiabank Arena.
Barry Trotz said there is always the possibility of diminishing benefits in repeated intrasquad scrimmages and the chance players can develop bad habits as a result.