MORRISVILLE, N.C. — Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello is content with the state of his team with just one game to go before the holiday break.
“Certainly, the last 10 games we’ve done a lot of good things,” Lamoriello said as the Islanders practiced Friday in advance of their pre-Christmas finale against the Hurricanes, “in particular in my opinion, our specialty teams, even though shorthanded at the beginning maybe didn’t show it. But scoring the number of shorthanded goals [a league-leading eight] helped out with the penalty kill. In saying that, that’s behind us now.”
The first 32 games of the season have been strange for the Islanders.
They head into Saturday tied for second place in the Metropolitan Division — with second through fifth separated by just a point — despite having lost more games than they’ve won, with a 15-8-9 record.
They suffered a seven-game losing streak in November that saw the fans chant for Lamoriello and coach Lane Lambert to be fired, then recovered by going 10-2-4 over the five weeks since.
Oh, and they’ve had four different defensemen who were in their opening lineup get hurt — including three who are still currently on the shelf, leading Lamoriello to add Robert Bortuzzo and Mike Reilly.
“I think it’s a compliment to the other defensemen who are healthy, who have risen their game,” Lamoriello said. “Bortuzzo and Reilly are both tremendous human beings. They came in seamlessly and have done everything and anything we could have asked from them and they’ve been a tremendous asset both off the ice and on the ice have done very well.”
Lamoriello affirmed his training camp statement that there is a place on the roster for Zach Parise if the 39-year-old decides to put retirement off and return to the league. Parise has been skating in Minnesota with his training ramping up over recent weeks.
“The lines of communication are certainly open,” Lamoriello said. “What I said originally has not changed and right now, that’s the best way I can answer that.”
After missing Wednesday’s loss to the Capitals, Julien Gauthier (right eye) told The Post he feels “great” and should be good to go on Saturday against the Hurricanes.
“My body’s feeling great. You want to make sure with your eye — you can’t buy another set — so you want to make sure it’s good before you go back in,” Gauthier said. “It’s healing up.”
Lamoriello did not have any update on injured defensemen Adam Pelech (upper body), Ryan Pulock (lower body) and Scott Mayfield (upper body).
“Hopefully, we will know more a little after Christmas,” he said. “Until then, I wish I could give you an update.”
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