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WASHINGTON — Mat Barzal explained his tardiness that led to a healthy scratch on Thursday night as an “alarm clock issue” on Friday before returning to the Islanders’ lineup against the Capitals. “There’s a set bus time in the morning, and I wasn’t on it,” Barzal said. “I was there for the meetings and everything, but Mathieu [Darche], at the start of camp, made clear that punctuality was a big thing. He wants to set a culture here, as do all the players here. So unfortunately, I was the first guy to have an alarm clock issue.” According to Barzal, this was the first time he had overslept. The Islanders making an example of the star center was similar to the Lightning — for whom Darche worked previously as an assistant GM — doing the same last season when Brayden Point missed a team meeting. Without Barzal, the Islanders lost to the Hurricanes, 6-2, and were forced to play a makeshift lineup with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. They did not have an extra forward on the road, and despite attempting to call up top prospect Cal Ritchie, his flight out of New York was canceled due to weather. Ritchie was called up on Friday and was in the lineup against the Capitals. “There was a ton of dialogue,” Barzal said. “No hard feelings from both sides, it is what it is. Like I said, unfortunately, I was the culprit of an alarm clock issue. “It obviously killed me not playing. It’s funny, when I was younger, when I was 8-10 years old, if I did something wrong, my dad wouldn’t take away my Xbox or PS4. He wouldn’t let me shoot pucks in the garage. “Not playing yesterday was super-tough. It is what it is. We move on and have a good one tonight.” Barzal added that there was no need to address the incident with the team. “The best thing about [coach] Patrick [Roy] and Mathieu and management that I’ve had here for my whole career is you wake up the next day and you come to work,” he said. “You do what you’re expected to do. No carryover from anybody.” Friday’s game against the Capitals was both the Islanders’ first back-to-back of the season and their first repeat opponent of the season. Washington beat them 4-2 at UBS Arena back on Oct. 11. Alex Ovechkin entered Friday one goal short of 900 for his career. Ovechkin scored career goal No. 895 to pass Wayne Gretzky for the all-time NHL record at UBS last April.
