Islanders cleared to resume season following COVID-19 outbreak

The Islanders will resume their season on Thursday at home against the Sharks after having their last two games postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

After eight players entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol, including captain Anders Lee and defensemen Zdeno Chara and Adam Pelech, the league called off the Islanders’ games on Sunday and Tuesday. The team shut down all activities on Saturday and were back on the ice for practice Wednesday morning.

From the NHL:

The Islanders organization has followed, and will continue to follow, all recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of its Players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, state and national agencies.

The NHL is still in the process of rescheduling those two postponed games against the Rangers and Flyers.

The Islanders were the second NHL team to have games postponed this season after an outbreak affected three Ottawa Senators’ games.

Re-starting after a poor start

Through 17 games the Islanders have compiled 12 points, placing them last in the Metropolitan Division and 15th in the Eastern Conference. As they resume their season they’ll look to snap an eight-game losing streak and attempt to win their first game at UBS Arena, where they’ve dropped four straight.

“We’ve dug ourselves a huge hole,” said head coach Barry Trotz. “It doesn’t mean we can’t dig ourselves out of it. I expect us to dig in.”

“We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves,” said Lee. It’s going to be difficult to get out of this but nothing is insurmountable. There’s a lot of hockey left to be played and our best hockey is in front of us.”

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at [e-mail] or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.