DALLAS — Max Tsyplakov didn’t take a rookie lap before his NHL debut on Thursday night, and he didn’t look much like a rookie once the game got underway, either.
The 26-year-old had impressed throughout the preseason after arriving from the KHL, but the question of how quickly he would adjust to the NHL game remained heading into opening night.
Tsyplakov answered by scoring a goal, dishing out six hits, skating more minutes than any Islanders forward other than Mathew Barzal and playing an all-around solid game as the Isles lost 5-4 to Utah HC.
There were a host of reasons for concern from this game, in which neither special teams unit impressed and in which the Islanders looked disconnected for long stretches at five-on-five.
Tsyplakov, though, appeared to get more comfortable with his linemates as the night went on and could count the night as a success, a vital positive for the Islanders, who are depending on him to be a key contributor right away.
“I try to battle, a lot of hits,” Tsyplakov said. “And I feel good. All good.”
Tsyplakov’s goal off the rush, which put the Islanders up 4-3 with 2:07 remaining, was all set to be the lead story from the game, for all of a minute.
Instead, the Islanders quickly let up the tying goal to Josh Doan and lost in overtime, relegating what would have been a game-winning goal from their debutant to an afterthought amid the wreckage.
Still, the goal itself was a play that showed off Tsyplakov’s maturity, as he sunk in behind the rush to take Brock Nelson’s feed before displaying a quick release in beating Connor Ingram.
“We saw sometimes going in the zone, pulling back, looking for the third man high,” Anthony Duclair said. “Making those little plays where you feel like he’s already played in the NHL before. Looking forward to a really good season from him.”
Tsyplakov was amongst the most impressive performers throughout camp and the preseason, playing his way onto the second line after Roy started him further down the lineup at the beginning of camp.
This was more proof that he belongs there, and that Tsyplakov is really a rookie only in name — with years of pro experience in Russia serving as a valuable foundation.
The Islanders are staking a lot on Tsyplakov’s ability to stick on the second line alongside Nelson and Kyle Palmieri in a left wing spot that rotated through a number of unsatisfactory options during the second half of last season.
Pierre Engvall, the player who spent the most time there in 2023-24, is currently in the AHL, having failed to make the team out of camp.
No one is expecting perfection right away from Tsyplakov and there were moments on Thursday — particularly a long shift in the defensive zone which eventually led to Barrett Hayton’s second-period goal — where the trio struggled to get on the same page when breaking out of the zone.
Overall, though, everyone felt good about the unit’s debut, and in particular, how Tsyplakov acquitted himself.
“I thought he had a strong game,” coach Patrick Roy said. “I was happy to see him score that goal. He was really good. He played the same way he played in the last two exhibition games. Played with that poise. In all, I was very pleased.”
On a night when the result dripped with unsettling familiarity, this was something different — and in a good way.
“I think we all saw it from the preseason and even tonight, the way [Tsyplakov] slows the play down. He’s got an extremely good hockey IQ,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. “You see him make a lot of good plays tonight with the puck and without the puck, some good reads. So he was a big part of why we got a point tonight.”
