CHICAGO — Barry Trotz took an analytical look at Friday’s NHL schedule as the league came out of its three-day holiday break and believes things could have been done better than having the Islanders face the Blackhawks of the Western Conference.
Per collective-bargaining agreement holiday break guidelines, teams could not travel to Friday night’s games until Friday morning. Along with the Islanders, the St. Louis Blues, who played at Winnipeg, and the Minnesota Wild, who played at Colorado, had the longest flights of the 11 road teams.
“New York is home, New Jersey is at home,” the Islanders coach said.