EAST MEADOW, NY — New York Islanders winger Maxim Tsyplakov is likely to be a healthy scratch for Thursday night’s clash with the Edmonton Oilers at UBS Arena, with both him and head coach Patrick Roy citing “a few things to clean up.”
“It’s just some of the little details,” Tsyplakov said on Wednesday following the team’s morning skate, where he served as an extra skater. “It needs a little bit better of a connection… It’s about tactics in the D-zone, the neutral zone. It just needs a little bit of a correction.”
Kyle MacLean is expected to draw into the lineup where he will join Casey Cizikas and Simon Holmstrom on the fourth line.
“Sometimes you make a change to make a change,” Roy said. “Kyle hasn’t played this year, and we felt like it’s time for him to play. I think he’s going to bring energy to the lineup, speed to the lineup. Sometimes you’re looking for that.”
Tsyplakov is in his second season with the Islanders after making the jump from Spartak Moscow in the Russian KHL last summer. He scored 10 goals with 25 assists in 77 games before signing a two-year contract to avoid arbitration in July.
During Monday afternoon’s 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, Tsyplakov was on the ice with the fourth line immediately after Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s opening goal cut the Islanders’ deficit to 2-1 early in the second period. Just 15 seconds later, though, he collided with Holmstrom in the offensive zone and was late to track back on defense, allowing Winnipeg defenseman Logan Stanley to finish off a 3-on-1 rush with a low wrist shot that snuck under the pad of goaltender Ilya Sorokin.
He sat out the entire third period, playing a grand total of 6:43 in the loss.
“[Tsyplakov] has a few things that we want him to clean up, and we had a good conversation about it,” Roy said. “That’s what I love about him. He’s going to work hard at it, and I’m sure he’d be ready when he gets back.”
While he expressed disappointment in sitting out for Thursday night’s game, he remains confident that these are “easy” and “little” tweaks that can be made to his game, ensuring his absence won’t be a long one.
“I just need a little bit of a change of mind,” he said.
